“A definite highlight for me was attending British Colleges National Finals at Loughborough, to represent the East Region at table tennis. The weekend was packed with playing and watching high level sport, and just generally having fun! Another highlight for me has been playing in the football team for my enrichment - especially as we have just got through to the National Plate Final! I think you can tell that Hills Road are very successful at sport, and is a great environment to achieve in.”
Kayleigh Hubbard

““As soon as we had arrived at Hills Road, we were astounded by the huge encouragement and support students were given for their own projects and productions. After just a month, we had already begun planning a spring term performance of The Last Five Years; a one-act autobiographical musical. The production's process, from a simple idea to the final performances, was absolutely incredible. We received endless support from the Drama and Music departments throughout plus essential funding from the Student Council. To be given such an enriching opportunity to direct, produce and perform in our own project so early on in our time at Hills Road was hugely inspiring. We were motivated to such an extent, we decided to repeat the process with a highly challenging production of Spring Awakening in October 2010 featuring a cast and crew almost triple the size.”
Ben Cork & Megan Jenkins

“The part of the trip that stood out the most for me was the visit to No. 50 High School in Beijing. I found it very interesting seeing the similarities and differences to our education system. The main contrasts were the militaristic fashion in which everything was run. Their morning exercises were strangely sinister in a weird Star Wars kind of way. Another thing that took me by surprise was how (compared to England) students who were the same age as us seemed to be very different in their expectations and views on life. Many were set on becoming lawyers and doctors but had no real idea how to achieve these goals. The best thing about the visit to No 50 was the football game we had with the students. They were very eager to get to know us and were very accommodating even though they had never met us.”
Jenny Radbone

“The BASE business competition was a great event that enabled us to apply what we had learnt in the classroom to scenarios experienced in the real world. Being part of such a diverse team, it was possible to draw on individual strengths, whether they were in finance or developing the business model, for example, and yet each member was able to conceptually add value to the presentation. During the regional heats, the team unified and as the competition progressed to the national finals, our collective skills that were nurtured at college helped us claim victory from tough opposition. Whilst the experience added another dimension to the phrase ‘interactive learning’, it was a great way to meet new people at the College and is certainly a highlight of my time here at Hills Road so far.”
Ravi Pandya

"Our dig at Oakington is one of my favourite memories of Hills Road. By going to a professional test-pitting excavation we gained a great insight into British archaeology and invaluable first-hand experience (which universities view very favourably). Not only that, it was great fun! I found a rabbit's skull!"
Jesse Daley

“The fashion enrichment was a great experience for me as I wanted to continue art and fashion as a hobby. The course varied each week and I learnt loads of new skills which I could transfer outside of college. The final project that I worked on will feature in a fashion show organised by the students to show our final pieces - I can’t wait!”
Louisa Clack

“Hills Road creates lots of opportunities for people to get an insight into a musician’s career. I have been lucky enough to sit in a professional orchestra rehearsal at the Barbican due to the opportunities here. The lunch time talks are really interesting, and the lunch time concerts are always fun.”
Ruth Whybrow
“I take Jazz Choir as my enrichment at Hills, and I absolutely love it. The atmosphere is really relaxed and the songs that we do are generally quite well known. Students have a lot of input as well, so it doesn’t just feel like a music lesson, and there is a concert at West Road in the summer term. Jazz Choir is on Tuesday lunchtimes, and is well worth a try- especially if you don’t want to audition for a college choir club, as you can just come along and sing!”
Jessy Ahluwalia

“I really enjoyed looking round CERN, we all learnt so much that day; the precision that everything in the Large Hadron Collider had to be made to, what happened when it wasn't EXACTLY right; the engineering of the whole project - how to get a huge and very delicate piece of equipment down a 100m shaft, several metres narrower than the equipment itself. It was also amazing to hear about the vast amount of computing power needed to process all the data being produced from the experiments. The new visitor centre was really good, I liked all the interactive things; the globe; the talking chairs; the presentation in the middle and on the walls around was really engaging.”
Rachel Nunns

“Well, as the picture suggests the ski trip isn’t just about skiing! On the trip, from our past experiences, you are guaranteed to make a load of new friends and of course do a lot of skiing. The actual skiing experience was awesome and the runs varied from slightly insane (Harakiri) to tamer slopes. The huge variety of runs makes the trip suitable for everyone from beginners to experts.”
Matt Freestone & Annie Gooch