It was a momentous occasion which celebrated the achievements of former pupils and the valued contributions of former colleagues who have helped to ensure the Geography Department remains to have a national reputation of excellence. As Mr Bown stated in his welcome, “Geography, now more than ever, is the subject of our times”.
The first part of the afternoon was focused on inspiring the next generation of Year 12 and Year 13 geographers, from both the boys and girls school, about the plethora of different career pathways a degree in Geography provides. With only 5.8% of Geography graduates job-hunting six-months after they graduated, against a national average of 7.3%, the range of transferable skills a Geography degree now provides for an ever evolving and global workplace environment is of paramount importance. Pleasingly, the OH Geographers reflected the breadth of career pathways on offer as speakers ranged from: a Professor of Health and Medical Geography; an Environmental Resource manager who works with clients from AstraZeneca to Sky; an entrepreneur who setup a FTSE 100 tech start up; a financial derivatives specialist; a Digital and Technology Director for Sainsbury’s to a Dr of Hydrology, Water Resources and Flood Management.
The afternoon networking event meant that students were split into small groups and had five minutes with each OH geographer after which they ‘rotated’ and moved onto the next speaker. It was fantastic to see students really engaged and interested, asking probing questions, as well as reflecting upon their subject option choices in advance of the Higher Education careers talk.