On Wednesday 24th June, the library hosted the latest event in the lunchtime Spotlight on series. Lola Gurton (OS 2022) joined us to talk about her non traditional journey since leaving SGS.

During the talk, Lola outlined the last four years, beginning with her successful application to Camp America and ending with her unconditional offer to study Children’s Nursing at the University of Bristol.

Lola’s journey began when she left SGS in 2022 with A levels in Maths, Chemistry and Psychology. After attending the school’s careers talks, she decided to take a gap year, planning to spend most of the year outside of the UK.

After applying to work at Camp America, Lola was placed at the same camp she had attended as a guest in 2014, Camp Chinqueka in Connecticut, USA. After 3 seasons Lola has learned new life skills, achieved many new qualifications, and made hundreds of lifelong friends.

Lola explained the benefits of taking part in an experience such as Camp America, as it gave her a strong group of friends to spend the rest of her journey with, many of whom she is still in touch with today.

While Lola has had the opportunity to travel across America, Australia, and drove across all of New Zealand, along with taking the opportunities to go skydiving and earn a certifcation in scuba diving. Lola also highlighted how hard she has worked to save money to fund her travels. How a strong work ethic, working multiple jobs at once has given her life skills such as budgeting, saving, paying bills and a very good understanding of life admin! 

In September this year, Lola will begin her degree in Children’s Nursing at the University of Bristol. We wish her all the very best as she enters this new chapter.