The Reach Cambridge Ambassador Scheme

In July 2013, Reach Cambridge summer school piloted an exciting new scheme – the Reach Ambassadors program. We asked our students if they would like to volunteer to promote Reach Cambridge in their schools and communities at home, and we were overwhelmed by the positive response. The role of the Reach Ambassador involves a number of different activities, all of which help to spread the word about the amazing opportunities available at Reach Cambridge summer programs. One of the most important things our Reach Ambassadors do is to help the Reach Cambridge team arrange visits to their schools, to tell their teachers and classmates all about the high school summer program. As a result, the Reach Cambridge team have been lucky enough to visit schools across the world this year, everywhere from the USA to Singapore! For the first time ever, members of the Reach Cambridge team took a trip all the way to Melbourne, and this would not have been possible without the help of our Australian Reach Ambassador, Erin. Erin kindly took the time to talk to us about her experience at Reach Cambridge summer school, and her time as a Reach Ambassador: Lauren: What made you decide to attend Reach Cambridge summer school? Erin: I knew I wanted to do a travel program somewhere in Europe so I did some researching of the programs available. I compared many different exchange and study programs from all across England and Europe though none seemed to appeal to me or they were too expensive. After a lot of research I saw a summer program that caught my eye, Reach Cambridge. I’ve always had admiration of Cambridge University and staying there for 3 weeks sounded like a dream come true. I read about the many activities the program offered and the wide range of subjects available. In Australia, summer programs aren’t widely known though it sounded like an amazing experience so I took a chance and was not disappointed! Lauren: How did you feel on the first day?! What were your first impressions of Cambridge? Erin: I travelled with a friend so I already knew someone when I arrived though everyone was so friendly that you can easily travel alone. On the first day I was so excited to meet everyone and see the colleges. Cambridge is such a beautiful and cosy city. Staying in Downing College was incredible since I was surrounded by beautiful and very historical architecture. The supervisors were bubbly, friendly and very welcoming. They were always there for support and they knew how to have fun! They ensured that the first day and the whole program was enjoyable for everyone. Lauren: Which academic subject did you study? How did you find it? Erin: I studied the Life Science and Medicine course. As a student who hopes to pursue a career in Medicine or Science this course really helped me get a better understanding of studying at a university level. We had very experienced lecturers teach us through their real life research as experts of medicine and life sciences. It was so interesting to be in a room full of students from all over the world who have a common interest in medicine and science. The subject classes will definitely aid me in my future studies. Lauren: Why did you decide to become a Reach Ambassador? What has it involved? Would you recommend it to others? Erin: I decided to become a Reach Ambassador to further promote and encourage other Australian students to attend this wonderful summer school program. I enjoyed Reach Cambridge so much and I would love for more students to experience the program in the future. Jenny from Reach Cambridge has come out to Australia to talk to students both at my school and to other schools in my area to further inform them of the opportunities available in Cambridge. Being a Reach Ambassador has allowed me to stay in contact with the program. I would highly recommend attending Reach Cambridge and becoming a Reach Ambassador.   We are delighted that the Reach Ambassadors scheme has got off to such a fantastic start and we would like to thank Erin and all our Reach Ambassadors across the world for their hard work. We cannot wait to meet all of the students attending Reach Cambridge summer programs in 2014 and we hope that some of you will decide to become Reach Ambassadors too