On Saturday the 13th of November twelve Hampton Academy students accompanied Ms. Taylor, Ms. Drennan and Mr. Smith to Cambridge University.

On arrival we visited the famous landmarks of Cambridge, these included: King´s College and King´s College chapel, Clare College, the Fitzwilliam Museum and Corpus Christi College, the alma mater of Mr. Smith.

Three undergraduates, two historians and one biochemist, gave us a tour of the Corpus Christi campus. They first showed us the Great Hall which houses the symbol of Corpus Christi; the mythical pelican. The pelican is known for its prominence and of its healing powers, as it feeds its offspring from its own flesh to allow it to grow and achieve.

It´s amazing to hear the story of the mythical Pelican, I didn´t realise so many old traditions still existed at Cambridge." Karolina Siwinska Yr.11

The Great Hall is also where all the students dine and receive meals which are prepared for them, a luxury of only a few Universities in the world!
We also visited the Corpus Christi Library, which Ms. Taylor felt a particularly strong connection to...
The undergraduates then gave us a tour of the Old Court, which was built in the 1350´s and is the oldest continually inhabited courtyard in the country. Within the renowned walls of Old Court you can see the Old Cavendish Laboratory where DNA was first discovered by Francis Crick and James Watson. Old Court also holds a large plaque which is dedicated to Christopher Marlowe and John Fletcher both famous playwrights who studied at Corpus.
We later moved on to a lecture hall where we were told which A-Levels led to certain University degrees and advised on what subjects to combine for A-Level study in order to have the best chance to study at Universities such as Cambridge or Oxford.

 “I feel that I now know which subjects I want to take for A-Level and the talk at Cambridge definitely helped me with my decision." Tate Coles Yr.11

Overall, we are all very grateful to our teachers for giving us the opportunity to visit Cambridge and for boosting our aspirations to achieve more than we ever thought possible.  

 
Diana Jaganjac 11KC

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