Each year Reach runs exciting Tailor Made programs for visiting school groups. In this blog, Leah and Natalie from Singapore Chinese Girls’ School talks about her time in Cambridge. Enjoy!:
REACH CAMBRIDGE EXPERIENCE 2015: TAILOR MADE PROGRAM, SCGS
Sic Itur Ad Astra – a line from Virgil’s Aenid, it is Latin for ‘thus reach for the stars’, and a sentiment that all of us hold dearly. A large portion of the course in Cambridge involved lessons with Reach Cambridge and our program coordinators (whose motto is the abovementioned Latin phrase). I reckon that some pupils were initially daunted by the idea of a packed schedule with lots of lessons, but I have no doubt that we all had our eyes opened during one of the most enriching, relevant and enjoyable classes we have ever had. From the 4 pertinent themes of Media, Ethics, Culture and Gender splayed out the topics of our lessons: Social Anthropology, Gender Construction in the Media and Political Philosophy as Applied Ethics, just to name a few.
However, the trip was not all based on academia. We watched Sweeney Todd at Cambridge’s renowned ADC Theatre, went punting along the whimsical River Cam, made a trip to the magnificent Ely Cathedral, indulged ourselves at Cadbury World (with no regrets), and marvelled at historic artefacts and artworks at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. On Remembrance Day, we spent a day at Radley College, a boys’ independent school in Oxfordshire. There, we sat in for engaging lessons (some of us even trying a hand at French), and had the great honour of meeting a World War II veteran.
These were all the highlights of the Reach program – but we will remember everything, from the hearty and moreish English breakfasts, to the thoroughly amazing laughs we shared with our program coordinators, with whom we have forged close bonds. Many of us walked into Heathrow Airport with puffy eyes and reddened noses, but all of us came home as innovative leaders, aware of the diversity in the global context and able to seize opportunities & explore ideas to change the world, all while having a rooted moral compass.
Our time at Reach was truly an unforgettable one, where our horizons were widened both intellectually and morally, in which every moment was exhilarating – be it meeting new people, discovering new knowledge or simply taking in breathtaking scenery. Reach was an experience we’d definitely recommend to everyone we know. It was not the tea, coffee or hot chocolate, but the nuggets of wisdom, friendships and halcyon days of this trip that kept us warm in the chilly little town of Cambridge.
Written by Leah and Natalie, Reach Cambridge Tailor Made student 2015
