Page 30 - Seaford Sixth Form Experience 2019

Hannah Wardrop
What are your future aspirations?
Ultimately I want to go to the Royal College of Music or another conservatoire.
First I’m going to do Year 14 here. Not only will it improve my voice but it will improve me as a performer, as a person. I’ll get a glimpse of the real world before I’m back in the system. I’ll get the chance to keep performing here - in the choir and in musicals. It will expose me to opportunities externally as I’ll be like a member of staff.
After a conservatoire I’d like to train with an opera company such as the English National Opera. I’d start with small roles. My dream is to then one day to move to the Met Opera. Whatever role there is – the chorus or the main role would be equally good.
How has Seaford helped you?
Ms Reynolds (Director of Performing Arts) pushes me out of my comfort zone but not in a forceful way. She knows I can adapt to the situation. She gives me challenges and I love a challenge. It will really help me with my auditions.
She asked me to sing in assembly which was really nerve-wracking. Singing in front of your peers is the hardest thing to do. I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t fazed by that. I have Ms Reynolds to thank for readying me for it. Even though I didn’t know I was ready, she did. I enjoyed showing off! It was the biggest audience I have had – about 800. Hopefully that will grow.
Lourdes Velasco-Nicholls
What are your aspirations for the future?
I’m going to be a pilot and I want to train at CAE Oxford. They start a course every month so I want to start in January to have a bit of time off. You do six months ground training which is purely theory – you get your pilot’s licence without even stepping in a plane which is ridiculous. You then have six months in Phoenix where they teach you to fly in sunny weather and then six months back here in not so sunny weather.
I still need to apply but I’ve been up for open days and had a look around it. To get a place you have to go through tests and interviews but you don’t need certain exam results.
How do you think Seaford has helped you with your aspiration?
My dad’s a pilot but I never wanted to do the same job. If I hadn’t had encouragement from the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) at Seaford to go ‘try flying, you might like it’, I’d never have thought about it.
I’d wanted to do Computer Science at university, I wanted to do Artificial Intelligence but that was quickly put aside when I tried flying.
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