Ella’s first year (so far) at Cambridge

Ella joined Langley in 2012, leaving in 2019 with A-Levels in English Literature, History, Mandarin and Politics. Today, Ella is studying at Cambridge University. We find out from Ella herself what life is like at one of the most respected institutes in the world.

Reading English Literature, Ella is part of Newnham college and describes it as the ‘perfect place’ for her.

She says, ‘It is a really special place – really inclusive, supportive and progressive. I made friends on the very first day. We just clicked straight away and now are living together in a reasonably empty college as we are some of the few who decided to come back. I’ve made lots more lovely friends from lots of different places since then, but it’s been amazing to immediately gel with people who are really similar (but also really different) to me.’

Just as she did during her school years, Ella has embraced every opportunity that’s on offer and it started in freshers week when she saw that the ADC theatre were hiring a director for the freshers show. After a few interviews, she became none other than the director.

Ella says, ‘It was a lot of responsibility in terms of casting and managing the budget for set design and publicity, music royalties etc. but it was so much fun and really exciting. A week before it was supposed to go on we went into the national lockdown so unfortunately it got cancelled, but I think we’ll be able to perform it when restrictions ease again. Someone from the radio station Cam FM. had seen me talk about it somewhere and asked if I’d like to adapt it for radio, which I also did and it was a really great experience.’

Ella also successfully put herself forward for the position of editor for the Cambridge Review of Books magazine, the next edition of which comes out in March. She says, ‘It’s a really lovely and diverse ‘literature and literary culture’ magazine and has loads of different articles, fiction and independent art.’

Seeing that it was changing its committee for the new year, Ella then went for a role within the Cambridge Union, where she is now a Press Officer. ‘When the national media or smaller scale student media want to interview a guest speaker,’ she explains, ‘I coordinate and facilitate the interview with them and/or their agent. Also I write press releases for events and the like. I’ve met some really interesting people (albeit over zoom).

‘All the events/speakers at the Union are free and online on YouTube this term, and might be quite interesting for any Langley Politics, History or English students to have a look at. The events feature lots of interesting debates about topical issues like lockdown and the US, and loads of guest speakers (MPs and Lords for example) including people like Amber Rudd, Theresa May, Michael Morpurgo, Stephen Fry and many more.’

It is a privilege to hear about Ella’s achievements so far and we very much look forward to following her progress at Cambridge and beyond.