Following on from her nomination for the ISA Whitbread Memorial Prize, for outstanding involvement in wider aspects of school and community life; as well as achieving academic excellence in her GCSE results, we sat down with Lara to talk about what exactly she did at the college to be nominated and her experience here as a GCSE student:

How do you feel about being nominated for the Whitbread Memorial Prize?

I feel both pleased and fortunate to be nominated. In times where everything is quite uncertain, particularly within education, it is comforting to know that as a student my achievements are still being recognised by the College and that my efforts have not gone to waste.

Can you give us a brief explanation of what you did last year to be nominated?

On top of my studies, I made an additional Spanish support group. I made this group in order to help peers in my class both improve grades and to help with general time management when it comes to workload and prioritising certain assignments. We also continued these lessons online when the college switched to remote learning. By creating a peer-led group, this ensured that we all had a chance for us to meet and discuss any particular topics we were struggling with or any general academic worries we were facing at the time, which we particularly made use of when we were unable to physically come into the College and socialise. Outside of this, both in college and when we were learning remotely, I always made sure that I supported everyone else around me if they needed help in a particular subject. I also organised revision groups ahead of tests that were coming up to try and make my peers feel more at ease and, in turn, to help reduce anxiety and stress surrounding upcoming exams.

I also believe it is extremely important to remain active, highlighted even more so when we were remote learning, which is why I take part in Tennis lessons every week and additional swimming lessons whenever I can.

Do you know what you intend to do moving forward in terms of future career aspirations?

I want to go onto study Medicine. From a young age I have always been sure that Medicine is the path that I was going to work to pursue and I have remained extremely mindful of this goal throughout my education. I also want to ensure that I get the opportunity to travel in the future, experiencing new cultures and experiences, as well as fulfilling my academic goals too. 

How is EIC helping you to achieve these goals?

The college supports me a lot in this goal. I was asked about my future plans before I even began studying here and since then the College have worked hard to come up with new ways to support me in my future career path. I have been given many opportunities to take leadership on extra-curricular activities and I have always been encouraged to put forward new ideas which has not only helped me to develop academically but also as a person.

I have also really benefited from the individual approach to learning here because the classes are a lot smaller than other schools. This means teachers can focus on each of us a lot more and I always feel like I receive a great amount of support from all my teachers.

Do you have anything exciting planned involving the College this year? 

I am planning to set up a volunteering scheme to help combat loneliness in the elderly community which is particularly high following on from the Coronavirus restrictions which forced a lot of these people to self isolate. I will be advertising this around the College and hopefully I can get more students involved as volunteers too.