Balancing Passions: George’s Journey to Engineering
Can you tell me what you love about physics?
It’s just cool finding out how the world works and finding out more about what’s going on around us and little bits of information that I never would’ve picked up on otherwise and just seeing how things work. It began in GCSE; the course just really captivated me. I kept asking questions and wanting to know more; it fascinates me.
Is it that love of physics that has driven you towards engineering?
I think it’s equally physics and DT, to be honest. I’m fairly practical – I’m good at working with my hands. Engineering ties in the practical side of DT with the mechanical side of physics. It pulls it all together.
Do you have any particular universities in mind?
I’m interested in Oxford or Cambridge, so I’m in the Oxbridge preparation group. I’ll see how far that takes me. I’ve got Edinburgh and Loughborough in mind; I’m leaning towards Edinburgh because of the shooting.
Have you been shooting for a long time?
I’ve been game shooting all my life and then I got into target shooting with Mr Christie here at Sedbergh. Target shooting, especially, brings a lot of like-minded people together and it’s nice to have that close friendship with other people; we go away for weeks on end, like at Bisley, and year-after-year, you meet up with a lot of the same people. It’s great.
Target shooting is also a very, very ‘finicky’ sport, so it’s good for people that like to take time and really fine tune their skills. I’ve always been someone who likes to keep whittling something down until it’s perfect; shooting allows me to do.
I’m also a chronic overthinker! But shooting is a very mindful sport and it gives me that chance to let go of everything else. I go into ‘the shooting bubble, where it’s just me, the gun and the target. It clears my mind.
Would you say that you have a passion for learning?
Yes, I enjoy finding things out and getting my head around how they work. There are some subjects that I don’t really have an interest in, but DT and physics, they grabbed me and I just want to learn more. In DT I get to demonstrate creative, problem-solving, coming up with solutions to problems.
Are there any study techniques or routines that have you found especially effective, particularly for your challenging subjects?
Definitely using my libs and going to talk to teachers outside of lessons. I’m also very passionate about mind mapping. Always before a GCSE exam, I got a big piece of paper, wrote down everything that I knew about it and that’s what made it click for me. I have never been one for the big sit down and revise for five hours. Just seeing it all laid out on a bit of paper definitely helped me. I’ve started doing that now for A Levels; as we are learning the content I’m putting it all out in big mind maps.
You’re playing guitar, you do sport, and you’re academic, how do you manage your time?
I’ve got a weekly planner. I sit down on Sunday night and write down everything I’ve got on for the week. I like it in physical book instead of on a computer because then I can take it with me.
Have you faced any academic hurdles in your time at Sedbergh?
GCSE history was a real challenge for me, the first year nothing clicked and I’ve always found academics as something I can fall back on if I’m feeling stressed and just want to be able to coast for a bit. But history was giving me a real hard time! So, talked to teachers, spend extra time on it, watched YouTube videos and again, wrote it all out on a big bit of paper. I got it down in the end, but that was a lot of work.
Still, I really like history and I chose it as my fourth A Level but it didn’t really gel with anything else and because I’m pretty much set on engineering, I thought I’ll do it for as long as I can and then I have to drop it. So I did history for four weeks. But, I really enjoyed it – I’ve still got this love for history.
What would you say to pupils who find certain subjects difficult?
Keep going with it, don’t give up. Speak to your teachers, see if there’s a different strategy that could work or look for helpful YouTube videos. If you’re struggling with maths, for example, and it’s one topic, go and watch a YouTube video about it. It might explain it in a different way that you can understand. Find a way that works for you – like the big sheets of paper and mind maps work for me.
Are you a big seeker of information from YouTube or any particular websites when you get stuck?
Yes, I definitely go to YouTube first. I also go to my teachers too, but if I’m in prep, I’ll go on YouTube and put in the keywords of the question and see what comes up.
How do you decide that the person that you are watching on YouTube knows what they’re talking about?
Obviously there’s, there’s verified accounts and then watch a couple of different ones. If they’re saying the same thing, then I’m sort of more lenient towards that. But if there’s wrong person that saying complete opposite, I might just stay away from that now.
How have the teachers and resources at this school helped you to develop your academic talents?
Definitely with me being more of an academic, I’ve been pushed further in class, especially with GCSEs. We are living with some of our teachers too, so if I’m stuck on prep on a Thursday night and I can go and have some mother about physics, stuff like that. That’s really helpful; teachers are a lot more accessible at a boarding school.
If you could change one thing about how you approached your studies in the past, what would it be?
Stop procrastinating. Just get it done. Stop thinking about it, it’ll be fine.
Do you have a strategy to stop yourself at procrastinating?
When I’m at home, I go down and work in the kitchen next to my mum. If I’m zoned out, she’ll get me back on track. If I’m in prep at school I’ll go down and work in the dining room, because it looks a bit stupid, sitting there and not doing anything. I think its called body doubling; when you’re procrastinating, struggling to do a task, if there’s someone else in the room with you, you’re more likely to actually do it.