Jess came to Sedbergh from a very small Scottish prep school, St Mary’s Melrose – with about 100 pupils – in year 9. A self-described, ‘country girl’ Jess felt Sedbergh was small enough to still feel very comfortable and at home, but big enough to provide new experiences. Having completed A levels in Maths, Physics and Latin, and having been head of the School’s CCF for two years, Jess is now going into her second year of Aerospace Engineering at Queens University, Belfast. She is completely enjoying studying things that fly very, very fast and very, very high!
What university are you attending?
I’m at Queens University, Belfast which is a lot bigger than what I’m used to but it’s still small enough that I feel comfortable. I’m very much a country girl but its a nice change. I moved into Halls in the city center for my first year. It’s very different to Sedbergh life – getting used to city noise that we don’t experience in Sedbergh. It was a bit of a change but I was already very used to the idea of living with other people.
Were you more comfortable with the move to Halls than other people because you came from boarding?
Completely. Because I’ve had the whole getting used to being more self-sufficient – for instance, having to do my own laundry and not getting reminded to do these things, and making sure I’m clearing up after myself. You get very used to holding yourself accountable at boarding school because there isn’t always someone coming around to tell you to do these things. Mum isn’t going to come around and pick up your laundry… if you run out of things – you’ve run out! In comparison to some of the people I lived with [at uni], I felt so much more prepared. The transition from sixth form into uni was really easy.
Other pupils have said that boarding helped them learn to manage their timetable better. Would you agree with that?
Oh, completely! You have to realise that there are only so many hours in a day and you can’t fit everything in! But Sedbergh gives you so many opportunities and you want to do everything which was definitely a big draw for me. I wanted to do everything, so being able to manage your time and say this is the time that I have in the morning and then I’ve got lessons. Especially in sixth form – utilising your free periods carefully was a massive thing for time management. So, going to uni and having deadlines and assignments, more than I was used to here [at Sedbergh] – I found the transition simpler than I thought it would be because I already new how to block time out in my day.
What A levels did you study?
I took Maths, Physics and Latin. I did an EPQ as well – mine was on gifted and talented children in education which is a very big interest of mine. Doing the EPQ takes a lot of research and time so you’ve got to choose something that sparks joy – and that does for me. I was going to study psychology but it didn’t really fit with my other plans. I also struggle with writing essays! I’m really interested in developmental research into young children and how brain pathways develop. I found a lot of that in what I do now in aerospace [engineering] – particularly I find the way that different people combat different problems is really interesting.
When did you become interested in aerospace engineering?
I’m studying aerospace engineering at Queens University in Belfast. However, I originally applied to join the military. I was head of the CCF for two years and when I was in Year 12 I applied for Officer Selection Board but unfortunately I was rejected for medical reasons. However, I have always had a very big draw to ballistics; how things fly and why they fly. So, it was always the plan to go on and do something more engineering based anyway.
How did you become aware of aerospace engineering as a pathway?
I didn’t really! I looked into general engineering with courses such as civil engineering but as I got further into it I found that quite a lot of unis did aeronautical engineering which is more based around planes than space and rockets. Then as I was on UCAS scrolling – as you do… for hours – I discovered aerospace at Queens which has the same content as the aeronautical courses but has the option to go into a space specialisation. It gives you the option to work on things that fly very, very fast and very, very high which I found exciting! This was originally going to be my insurance option and not my firm choice but I ended up switched it around. I had a real draw to Belfast, the place, and I just got a feel that this was the right thing for me.
Has aerospace engineering course lived up to your expectations?
Completely! I absolutely adore it. First year is always hard, I think. It’s very much the catch up year. Everybody needs to be on a level playing field as you go through the course so some modules challenged me more than others. There was loads of new content but at the end of the year you all even out.
Was there anything particular about being at Sedbergh that helped you?
The opportunities that I received from Sedbergh through the whole five years definitely made me realise that you’ve got to grasp everything while you can. You’re not always going to have the opportunity to go off and do some of the amazing things that I could do here. Going into uni and having similar opportunities through sport – I really have grasped everything possible. My teachers really helped me understand time management; especially though my A levels they really helped me find a block structured that worked for me. Being able to move that into my weekly life at uni and being able to say this is what I’ve got on today, this is what I’m doing, lets not worry about tomorrow until today is over. Those are two things that really helped me.
How did your CCF participation help you?
I started doing CCF in year 10. For me, it was definitely a confidence building thing. It wasn’t that I was shy when I first started – it’s more that I’ve always known what I wanted to do but I haven’t always been the best at articulating it. Going into the CCF and being able to find my own feet and learn about leadership and learn how different leaders work has really helped me go into uni and know that it’s OK to just express yourself in different ways. For quite a lot of my time in CCF I felt like it was a bit of a strange one because not everyone does it. The people who don’t do it – I don’t think they realise how much it can mean to some people. Once you find your group of people, wherever you are in life, whether it’s my friends through rowing at university or the people in CCF here, when you find your people, it makes your life so much so much easier. A lot better. The CCF was more of a confidence building and friendship thing for me. In CCF I found a group of like-minded people; we enjoyed the challenges that it set us. It gave me so much structure and I like that.
I wasn’t a very confident person growing up but being able to stand there and say that I can lead a group of people was a really big thing.
Leaving behind your friendship group at Sedbergh, how did you approach finding “your people” at University?
When I first started uni I had to go with the mindset of not everyone is going to like you and you just have to be your own person and you’ll find the people in the end. I’ve joined a sporting team – I’ve started rowing – with so many like-minded people and that makes me so happy. It does matter – it makes a big difference.
Were the any sports or activities that you did particularly at Sedbergh?
There were quite a few! I was part of Chapel Choir and a few of the music societies. I was part of Invisible College – the physics society – and the School of Athens. I also played hockey for the 5 years that I was here. I don’t play hockey now.
What do you do to relax and de-stress during exam time?
Exam time is hard. No matter what you do you’re always going to experience stresses in your life. Exam time is definitely a time that stress will increase. You’re worried about grades and you want to do well. I am also conscious of wanting to do well – to do justice to those who have taught me. While I was at school I would look forward to getting on the hockey pitch – I was a goal keeper. Kind of just getting myself out in the fresh air. Just making sure that I kept doing the things that I loved because if I let myself fall into a rut and out of routine, I could feel myself getting more and more stressed because you get so consumed with everything that is going on. Now I’m at uni its more about getting in a boat on the water [rowing] or taking a book and reading in a coffee shop… its just the small things that give you a bit of respite from your exams.
With the benefit of hindsight would you have done anything differently?
I think I would have asked for help more. There were definitely periods of time when I was stressed and I kept on doing so much that I let myself get burnt out – which put more pressure on myself. I think if I’d spoken up and said, ‘Look I need a bit of a hand here’, it would have been a good thing.
Which of the Sedbergh HARK values do you most identify with?
Resilience. There have been some points where I’ve had to say ‘you’ve really just got to get through it’. When you experience something in your life where you don’t want to finish, don’t want to keep going, but being able to sit there and say, ‘No, take a breath, take a minute and get back in there and finish’, it’s probably the most important of the values, I think.