Alumni

Introducing Alumni Georgia B, a Master’s student and History graduate at the University of York.

“I joined the University’s women’s Rugby Club in my first year of Uni. I was encouraged to attend a taster session after visiting the stall at Freshers’ Fair. I’d played a bit of rugby before uni but wasn’t very good. I joined the club with some experience but not a whole lot of knowledge of how to properly play the sport.

It’s been a great experience. I mean you can probably tell, it’s literally my main personality trait! I’ve loved being able to directly run the club for the past two years and getting more women to play rugby! I ran for committee in my second year as a social secretary and enjoyed being able to have more say in how the club operated and with encouragement from other members, I ran for president in my third year and carried on during my Masters.

Aside from my rugby achievements, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree is one of my biggest achievements. I achieved 84% on my dissertation and won the Professor Phil Batman Family History Prize, a national prize for my dissertation after interviewing members of the Black Panther Party. I never thought as an undergraduate that I’d have the opportunity to interview real women of the party and that was down to the encouragement of my dissertation supervisor, Gina Denton. She was a really wonderful support.

I think the demands of your degree are made so much easier by the opportunities available to get involved in sports and other areas of Uni life. Meeting so many new people and making friends at rugby really helped me during my studies, I think it provided a really good stress relief from my degree and definitely made studying more enjoyable. I’d always recommend to anyone joining York, or anyone who is currently studying to get involved in some way with all the opportunities available from the university and the student union. Take part in everything; not just your degree!”