"A full and equal experience": Georgia's Story

Georgia's Story

04/06/26

Bursaries

Guild Interview

We spoke to Guild member and former Beale Award recipient Georgia Gordon (Class of 2016), about her time at CLC and the importance of bursaries.

What have you been doing since you left CLC?

I'm 10 years out and I've tried a lot of things in my time, but I've landed on a career that I really love - I'm in Art, and I'm a Gallery Manager.

It has been a strange trajectory for me. Art was not something that was part of my home life, or anything like that, in fact, my first touch point with it was at CLC. I didn't totally embrace it, because I was much more focused on sport, but being at College helped to lay the foundations for exploring that kind of career and working in a creative industry.

Being at CLC helped me to pursue different avenues and learn that there are so many different kinds of careers out there.

Can you tell us a bit about your time at CLC?

One of my strongest memories from my childhood is receiving my acceptance letter. I remember it so vividly. I don't remember that much of my childhood, but I remember that day - I remember hearing the doorbell going and my brother and I were watching TV. I don't know how I knew it, but I knew in the moment that I saw that letter that my life was about to change.

I was here for 7 years, from the age of 11 through to 18 and it was amazing. I loved every day here, I really did - it was such a happy time for me.

I tried everything while I was here. I had a full bursary and something I've realised, much more since I've left, is how all-encompassing the bursary programme is at CLC compared to other schools.

I'm really grateful for the way the bursary is set up here to include additional things, like I had piano lessons, which were lovely, and a school trip to Berlin, even down to tiny details like providing my Leavers Ring, so that everyone had the opportunity to have one.

I think the really beautiful thing about the bursary programme is how all-encompassing it is, so that you really do get a full and equal experience to everyone around you.

Can you tell us about any new things you tried at CLC?

I'd never been to a museum before, or an art gallery, or the theatre - I remember it was amazing that we could watch plays like Romeo and Juliet in the Parabola Arts Centre.

I'd never played Lacrosse before, which I went on to do, captaining the 1st team at College and then also at university, which I absolutely loved.

The biggest thing for me was the food - I couldn't believe that there was unlimited food and that it was food from all over the world. I'd never tried Hungarian Goulash, or duck pancakes, and all of these amazing things, and it really opened my world.

Also, it was amazing to come to a school where there were people from all around the world, and it was super multi-cultural and normal for everyone to be really different from each other. There are people from every corner of the entire world at CLC, so that was also something I hadn't encountered before, and I was really grateful for that.

What was the biggest benefit you took from your time at CLC?

I think it's hard to narrow it down to just one. I think it completely changed who I was as a person, and was also really transformational for my family, especially for my brother.

I was awarded a Sports Scholarship, and it just really opens your eyes to things. My brother went on to captain the Youth Commonwealth Games for England for Rugby, and he's still semi-pro to this day.

It also gave me so much confidence. I think the main thing I drew from the experience was soft skills – learning how to debate, learning how to stand up and speak your opinion and defend an argument.

It showed me that you can explore as many options as you want until you find something that you love, which has definitely been a big part of my career – trying lots of things until I found one that I really love.

It really showed me that I could try to do and be anything, and that just being yourself is okay.

What is your favourite memory from your time at College?

I don't know if I have one specifically - I thought Prayers was beautiful, it was something I really enjoyed and also hated every day, but it has such a solid memory in my mind.

I think, probably, my favourite memories are actually from the Dorms. I loved boarding, I thought it was the most amazing thing ever because you got to have a sleepover with your best friends every night.

I have one really strong memory of us doing some sort of photo shoot, and we'd put all these different outfits on and tried to do our hair, and I remember that strongly and remember feeling really happy.

One of my other fondest memories is sitting down for lunch. You sat down in the order that you arrived, and there weren't cliques or anything. You sat next to someone different every time, and you were familiar and happy with everyone in your year, and had beautiful and unique relationships across so many different types of people.

Even just chatting or brushing your teeth with someone, and having that community feel with them all the time, was just so beautiful.

Why do you feel that bursaries are important?

I think that, unfortunately, excellent education isn't accessible to everyone. It's important to be able to give anyone, from any background, the opportunity to explore whatever they want to.

I think for me personally, it was an incredible experience that changed my life forever, and changed my family's life forever, and I think anyone who wants to should have access to that.

I also think it's important that the other girls who are here at CLC meet people from different economic backgrounds and are aware of everything that's going on, so that this doesn't become a sort of monoculture.

I think bursaries are incredibly important and can completely change someone - it completely changed me. Having access to so many things that you can be interested in and so many choices available to you is such a privilege, and the teaching was so amazing. I went on to study English Literature for my degree, and was able to discover a love of learning at CLC, which was really encouraged.

There is a beautiful culture at College of all the girls really being behind learning; wanting to learn, being interested in learning and being curious was so, so encouraged.

Where do you see yourself in five or ten years time?

I don't know, and I quite like that I don't know. Again, I think that's part of what CLC has done for me - I've given myself permission to reinvent myself over and over again.

I do hope that I stay in Art, because I really love it, but I also think it's fine if I don't. I think the beauty of CLC, and all of the co-curriculars that you're encouraged to do, is that I've always been accustomed to a really busy life and so my life has always been really full.

That means that I've had so many interests, and there are still so many things that I'm interested in - so, I hope that I will continue to reinvent myself, and I can't wait to find out what the future holds!

Georgia, Guild member & former Beale Award holder