Six Bolton School alumni returned to share their career journeys with Girls’ Division pupils in Year 8. The group of alumni, who work in a wide variety of different sectors, gave pupils an insight into the world of work through a series of short presentations and activities.
Megan Bowden (Class of 2011) is a commercial pilot who flies Boeing 737s for a living. Her previous experience includes working as a ferry pilot, a safety pilot, and in flight operations and press management for two successive world record global circumnavigations. She began by testing the girls’ observational abilities, asking them where in the world various photos from the cockpit were taken and to spot the runway. She also talked about the physics of how an aeroplane flies and what steps are needed before becoming a pilot.
Faye Clarkson (Class of 2023) is now working as a Solicitor Degree Apprentice at Weightmans LLP, where she had the opportunity to study towards her law degree one day per week while working in the firm for the remaining four days. She gave an overview of her time at school and why she chose to go into a degree apprenticeship before talking about what it involves. She spoke about the different routes to qualify as a solicitor, the different levels of staff within a firm and the different practice areas in law.
Eleanor Gibbons (Class of 2019) is a Midwife working at the Royal Bolton Hospital, Princess Anne Maternity Unit. She gained a first-class Midwifery degree from the University of Salford, graduating in September 2022. She spoke about what being a midwife involves: not just the delivery of babies but pre- and post-natal care as well. She introduced the girls to some of the equipment she uses in her job. She described midwives in general as good communicators, good collaborators, and people who are passionate about female and baby care. She spoke about what is needed to qualify, such as delivering 40 babies, and the different roles and specialisms available in this job.
Eleanor Gorick (Class of 2015) and Amelia Camilleri (Class of 2017) are the founders of ME comms, a PR and social media agency based in Manchester. Specialising in hospitality, they work with a number of well-known brands nationwide. They explained to the girls the different kinds of marketing and PR, with examples from their own events and collaborations. The girls were full of questions about travel opportunities within their jobs, what subjects are useful, and what they have learned along the way while setting up their business. They finished their session by asking the girls to write a social media caption about a Taylor Swift and Sexy Fish collab.
Ryan Thakrar (Class of 2018) works in the finance sector as a commercial finance analyst with Exertis, one of the UK’s largest and fastest-growing tech distribution companies. He began by talking about what he wanted to do whilst at school and what he expected himself to do afterwards, including the professional qualifications needed to obtain his role. The girls were challenged with a logo quiz: Ryan pointed out that, even if they hadn’t heard of his company, they had heard of companies he works with, such as Amazon, Samsung and Xbox. The girls were also asked to work in pairs to match up financial terms such as liability, revenue and asset with their definitions. This was followed by a Kahoot quiz with a chocolate prize!
Year 8 made the most of the opportunity to hear from so many different alumni about their careers and had plenty of questions to ask following each session.
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