Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2015

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BROADENED HORIZONS

AUTHOR Mr James Seaha Director of Post-Secondary Planning

THE OXBRIDGE PROGRAMME WAS BORN IN 2010 when just ten families embarked on a social and educational experiment never before attempted by Girls Grammar. These girls and their families stepped out of Australia and into university life in Oxford, Cambridge and Paris. A few years later, a second programme called Summer Discovery was added and the programme was renamed The Northern Hemisphere Summer Schools Programme, allowing for further expansion to include new and emerging summer school experiences. This year, twenty Year 11 girls followed in the footsteps of the 2010 pioneers, attending four week summer schools at The University of Cambridge, The University of Colorado, L’Académie de Paris, The University of Oxford, St Andrews University, Scotland and Columbia University. There they studied in a number of disciplines, including The Law and Human Rights, Medical Science, Philosophy and Ethics, Photography, Pop Culture as Knowledge and Advertising and Design. They submersed themselves in the university culture, while also managing to maintain their academic standing at Girls Grammar.

I was fortunate enough to have breakfast with CEOs of Wall Stree t firms, attend baseball games, the atre on Broadway, shop along Fifth Avenue, cross the Brooklyn Bridg e, ride at Coney Island and so much more. All this, while navigating t he subway system, led me to step u p to the challenge and become mor e independent than I could have imagined. Through the people I m et, I now know that wherever I trave l I have a home nearby. Stephanie van der Jagt (11B)

I majored in International Busine ss: Wall Street and the world and minored in Advertising and Desi gn. The courses not only taught me s o much about the subjects, but als o confirmed my interest in a long- term career choice. With highly educated professors and one of th e economic powerhouses of the wo rld at my disposal, the programme helped inspire my educational career, kindle new friendships, an d experience one of the greatest ci ties in the world.

While each girl’s experience was as individual as the subjects they chose to study and the university they chose to attend, every girl shares the same understanding of new ideas in a world of study beyond our Australian shores.

Colorado University was one of the most uplifting and eye-opening experiences of my life. I did things I’d only dreamed of — hiking in the Rocky Mountains, seeing a baseball game, trying to learn the American national anthem in two minutes — and met people from places I’d only heard of.

Colorado

electronic piano, to playing Mario Kart using lemons. As one of three girls and the only Australian in the class of sixteen, I found myself suddenly representing my country and my gender to a male-dominated class learning about a male-dominated industry. Isobel Smith (11B)

During my time at the beautiful Boulder campus I studied Physical and Technological Computing. My class taught me a range of different things, from hooking up wires and LEDs within a shoebox to create an

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