Intrepid Year 13 students Gloria and Reese have been awarded two prestigious travel awards in recognition of their ambitious plans for adventure and academic horizon-broadening.
The GDST Travel Scholarship offers 10-12 annual awards to Sixth Form leavers from across the GDST to support enterprising gap year or summer travel plans. Aimed at independent, educational, or volunteering adventures, the awards support ambitious personal projects.
Blackheath High’s Macaulay Award was devised by the Old Girls’ Association to honour Miss Janet Macaulay, Headmistress of Blackheath High School from 1945-1955, who oversaw the reopening of the school after WWII. She was passionate about giving girls the chance to experience the world after the privations of the war, and the prize rewards excellence for a project aimed at broadening academic horizons through travel – from overseas work projects to ambitious UK-based travel opportunities.
Supported by these prize funds, Gloria plans to travel to Ghana to volunteer in two hospitals before she takes up her university place to study Medicine in September. She would particularly like to work in the paediatric and maternity units, where she can impact neonatal outcomes; and in her spare time, she plans to spend time in the community and hopes to learn the Ghanaian language Twi.
Reese is a passionate cricketer, who plays for Kent Women and even focused her EPQ on how cricket is impacted by geopolitics. During her gap year, Reese plans to spend six months in Melbourne during the Australian cricket season, playing for a competitive local club while gaining exposure to a more developed women’s cricket structure. Alongside training and matches, she will use her ECB Level 2 coaching qualification to coach young players within her club and local schools, particularly supporting the development of girls’ cricket.
We are so proud of these two young women as they take their first steps into life beyond Blackheath High with such passion, determination and confidence – these travel prizes are just the beginning for them.