Erica
General Grant
In June, I set off on one of the most amazing adventures I could ever dream of…” and so begins Erica’s story. “As an isolated small-town girl from west of Longreach I’d never thought I would be travelling across the world to attend summer schools at two of the most prestigious universities in the world. Oxbridge Academic Programs are run out of the USA and have created 8 programs world-wide, two of which I was able to attend. In June/July, I headed off for a month-long summer school at The University of St Andrews, in Scotland, where I studied in the areas of Genetics and British History. After coming home for 3 weeks, I was then whisked off back to the UK to spend a week at Oxford University in England. There I majored in Maths and Nature where we looked at topics from the mathematics of optics to the mathematics of mapping Malaria. At the age of 16, I could never have dreamed I would be sitting halfway across the world at places I have only dreamed I could visit. I’d love to say a huge THANK YOU to the Connellan Airways Trust who were amazing and supplied me a grant of $2,000 to go towards airfares. The Oxbridge Academic Programs were an experience of a lifetime and one I thought a country girl from Australia could never achieve, but happily I was proven wrong. Growing up in isolation sometimes means we miss out, but I believe strongly in reaching for the stars and not letting that stop me. I’ve travelled across the world and experienced some great things. In conclusion, my idol Walt Disney sums it up fairly well: “If you can dream it, you can do it!
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We acknowledge and extend our respect and appreciation to the Arrente People, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are located in Alice Springs, and to the Traditional Custodians across the lands on which our recipients live and work. We pay respect to the Elders, past, present and emerging.