Alumnae journeys

The community values I was taught at St Helen’s orientated me towards a career in the public sector, which I find enormously fulfilling.

While at St Helen’s, I was continually encouraged to ask questions; this is something that is crucial to my current role. I believe the school encouraged me to think independently and to never doubt that I could achieve my goals. ‘Per severa’ has also stayed with me! The SHSK Old Girls Magazine also helped me – I reached out to another Old Girl who was featured in one of the alumni magazines, asking how she got into her role. She responded and, after taking her advice, she is now a colleague of mine!

I look back at my time at St Helen’s very fondly. It was an environment that allowed me to pursue the subjects I really enjoyed, such as History of Art and Literature, with incredibly inspiring and encouraging teachers who always told us we could achieve whatever we wanted. The confidence in our abilities and encouragement we received I’m sure helped me when it came to finding a job I enjoyed and when staring at a blank page trying to write a novel. I made friends for life at school that are endlessly supportive, and that coupled with an environment that supported us every step of the way, helped to give me the confidence I needed to pursue what I really wanted to do.

I originally wanted to become an astronaut, however, because I am ‘nosy’, I soon realised that life as an astronaut would not give me the human interactions I craved. I’m naturally very inquisitive and find people fascinating. The doctors in my family always had the best work stories! And I was really into science, so that’s how I ended up choosing medicine as a career.

My time at St Helen’s gave me the social skills to develop relationships and build networks – an absolutely essential part of representing and promoting the UK at CERN, the world’s largest physics lab. Every day there’s something new to learn, whether that’s a big science discovery like the Higgs boson or a small technical development, and St Helen’s gave me the confidence to ask questions. Through drama and public speaking, I learned the basics of giving speeches and doing presentations. I’ve honed these performance skills over the years; I use them all the time to make science, technology and engineering exciting and accessible to audiences ranging from senior politicians and decision-makers to schools and the general public.

My time at St Helen’s gave me a solid start to life, with a love of learning and an ability to study independently, and foundational skills, as well as a sense of the importance of teamwork, participation, and representation through playing team sports and experiences like involvement in the School Council. The love of languages I developed through taking French through to A level and studying Ancient Greek at GCSE (though I dropped Latin after Year 9) has been especially valuable.

Having the opportunity to do work experience, using some of the contacts through the School, made sure I had work experience on my CV from an early age which certainly helped when applying for law school. It also allowed me to see if it was a career I would enjoy, but gave me time to think about other careers and consider my options carefully.

My time at St Helen’s gave me a love of learning and this underpins the way that I see myself in the world, as an historian, as an academic and as a woman. I was taught my some inspirational teachers during my years at St Helen’s, which modelled for me a way of quiet, authoritative leadership in the classroom. I also think that a St Helen’s education gives confidence without arrogance in one’s own intellectual abilities, allowing me to first of all aim for my own academic career, and then more recently to mentor and coach others towards that goal.

At St Helen’s, I felt encouraged to pursue my interest in media and was supported when I embarked on independent projects. This helped me to become a determined, motivated self-starter – a mindset which is very much needed to survive as a freelancer!