Following on from the excellent excursions this weekend, and with the welcome addition of the students from Cathedral school from Mumbai, the week got off to a flying start. The Biotechnology students went on a prestigious trip to Sanofi manufacturing park in Haverhill. This was an excellent opportunity to learn more about industrial practices in biotechnology as well as get a sneak peek at some of the high tech equipment employed by such an industry leader. After some initial grumblings at having to hand over their phones and cameras, showing the import of what we were about to be shown, we received a very interesting lecture on industry practices followed by a tour of the labs and select portions of the manufacturing process. Overall an excellent trip for the students to learn more about the corporate side of science.
Reach presents several great opportunities for the students to indulge their competitive sides. Following on from the Trinity Hall vs Downing football match on Sunday evening we ran a very popular Capture the Flag activity. Students competed to run the enemy’s flag and make it to home base without being tagged, resulting in a very tight race! It was fantastic to see the students blowing off some steam after the intensive studying during the day and really joining in with the team spirit resulting in everybody having massive amounts of fun.
A very important part of Reach is preparing the students for their attack on UCAS. To this end we run mock interviews in the evening for those interested. Having been through the interview process and now sitting on the opposite side of the table is a great opportunity for me to see the earnest effort put into their studies and extracurriculars to prepare themselves for university. All students I spoke to handled themselves very well, with a very impressive array of work experience and internships. Furthermore, when it came to the academic questions all students applied themselves fully to deducing the answers, even though it was not on topics they had explicitly studied.
To further raise money for Sabre Charitable Trust, Monday night saw the Fête of Fun. The supervisors put on a carnival-type event where students could contribute to charity to play the games. We had a variety of skill based sports, such as eating a suspended donut. There were activities requiring peak concentration and coordination abilities, such as knocking over a tower using a tennis ball in the end of a pair of tights. There were also classic crowd pleasers for example the ever popular soak the supervisor.
Overall then an excellent start to the (sadly) final week of this amazing summer school. The students are constantly amazing me with their enthusiasm and energy for the activities, both academic and out of the classroom, and I hope it continues up until the very end of the program.
Written by Peter, Corridor Supervisor
