Beyond King’s

This week as we continue to show our support for our amazing OV NHS and key workers we are delighted to feature Dr Lucy Studd (K 00-05) as our OV of the Week. At school, Lucy was involved in Drama and LAMDA, and went on to study Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University, and Acting at Drama Centre, London.

After working as an actor, Lucy changed careers and enrolled in a medical degree at St George’s University, London in 2014. She graduated from medical school in 2018 and is now a Foundation Year 2 Doctor at St George’s Hospital in London; currently working in General Practice. Lucy will start training to be an Anaesthetist in August 2020.

She married Graham (another doctor!) in 2019, and they are expecting a baby later this year.

With the outbreak of COVID-19, many of us have had our work and personal lives turned upside down. Our OV of the week is graphic designer & illustrator Jack Bendall (S 04-09) who understands this very well.

As a pupil at King’s, Jack was a member of the Boat Club and enjoyed drama. Following King’s, Jack studied Graphic Design (BA Hons) at Sheffield Hallam University. After graduation, Jack remained in Sheffield and through working freelance, struck up strong working relationships with several local businesses, which helped Jack discover that helping small businesses and start-ups was one of his passions. It also led to a full-time design job with True North Brew Co.

Since then, Jack has continued to work freelance as well as working with agencies focused on branding and web design. Complications caused by the crisis left Jack unable to start his new job; instead, he is now working hard on assisting businesses that are still operating with any required design work, as well as working on his own website.

Jack says, “Graphic design as a career can be a challenging path to follow; it is a very competitive industry, full of various ups and downs, but with the right attitude and determination, it can be highly rewarding. Seeing how other people react and respond to your work, as well as satisfying client expectations and beyond, makes it all worth it.”

We are back after the Easter Holidays even if from a distance and our first OV of the week for the summer term is Victoria Crowe (Cr 98-06). At King’s, Victoria was heavily involved in the Boat Club as a cox and was also involved in Young Enterprise and was a monitor.

Victoria took a gap-year to volunteer in South Africa with children with Cerebral Palsy and other neurological conditions with part of her role including assisting with physiotherapy sessions.

Following this experience, Victoria initially went to Cardiff University to study Medicine, but after a year, changed her course and moved to the University of Southampton to study Physiotherapy. Victoria has worked for Acorns Children’s Hospice and spent several years in the NHS, specialising in Paediatric Physiotherapy. She also qualified as a Bowen Therapist in 2017.

This week school has been busy as ever only school for many of us at the moment is now our homes. To keep motivated and inspired in these uncertain times we are delighted to feature Tom Rogers (K 97-06) as our final former pupil of the week for the spring term.

At school, Tom was involved in a number of curricular and extra-curricular activities include Duke of Edinburgh, rugby and football.

After King’s, Tom completed a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering with Architecture at the University of Southampton. Since then he has worked in a number of sectors within the construction industry as a Structural & Construction Engineer, gained his Chartership as a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK, and latterly moved to New York in 2016 to further his career in the industry.

Aside from work, he enjoys travelling, skiing, running and football, also managing a team in his local 48 league. After taking some time off in 2019 to travel the world for 5 months, Tom plans to return to New York in 2020 to continue his journey.

Given the current worldwide concerns at present it is fitting that our OV of the week is Dr Hishamuddin Badaruddin (S 88-90) whose skills and experience will be very much in demand. While at King’s, Hisham was involved in badminton and sailing.

Following King’s, Hisham studied medicine at The University of Nottingham. After working in emergency medicine in a number of hospitals around the UK he returned to South-East Asia in 2002. In 2003 he was involved in managing the SARS outbreak and after that changed directions and became a public health specialist after completing a Masters in Public Health at Emory University in USA as a Fulbright scholar.

Since then Hisham has worked with Ministry of Health in Singapore in public health, consulted for WHO and UNICEF, and is now a Director with Deloitte Consulting looking after the healthcare space in South-East Asia. He is also a Fellow with the Academy of Medicine Singapore, adjunct Assistant Professor with Penn State University (USA) and also Duke-NUS medical school in Singapore.

On Sunday it was International Women’s Day and we are delighted to feature Rosalind Goodrich (Co 82-84) as our OV of the week. Rosalind was Head of House at King’s and enjoyed sport, singing and Orchestra. She went on to study Law at Cambridge University and did a Masters in Global Governance and Public Policy at Birkbeck, University of London.

She started in legal publishing before going into international development via a UN internship. Since then Rosalind has specialised in strategic communications and has been Head of Research Communications at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) since 2013. She works with institutions in the Global South to influence policy change for sustainable development.

This week we celebrated World Book Day and we are delighted to feature writer Mike Fardon (H62-68). Mike has been interested in books and writing from an early age. While at King’s he was involved in producing a school magazine and also won a Henry Wood Essay prize. He studied English Literature at London University (BA Hons and MPhil) where he edited and contributed to the college magazine.

After graduation, and in need of a regular income, Mike began a career in banking at Midland Bank (now HSBC), initially working for the bank’s International Division in the City. Mike married in 1977 and in 1982 moved back to the Worcester area, eventually taking up a post as lecturer in banking and finance at Worcester Tech. The writing bug remained and Mike started writing banking and business textbooks. In due course he left teaching and established his own textbook publishing company, Osborne Books. Mike retired in 2012, having sold the business to Kaplan Learning but continues his writing and has now embarked on a novel.

King’s has always been important for Mike and he is pleased to say that his five children, Cathy, Rob, Sarah, Tom and Ben, have all studied and flourished at King’s.

We are back after the half-term holidays and lots of pupils are looking forward to taking part in match fixtures including football, rugby, netball and hockey.

This week our OV of the week is Lydia Robinson (K 91-98) who enjoyed spending time in the art department while she was at King’s and was the recipient of the art prize when she was in the upper 6th which sparked her creative passion.

Lydia went on to Edinburgh University where she graduated with a distinction and first class honours degree in Architecture. This led her to work with a number of award-winning practices in both the UK and abroad including Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in London and OMB in Vancouver.

Living in a listed building herself, Lydia has a particular interest in heritage buildings and the creative reuse of historic structures.

Lydia is now Creative Director at Design Storey. Whether a new or existing condition, Lydia believes that creative solutions, backed with a rigorous design process, result in successful projects. This approach enabled Design Storey to be recognised with two RIBA regional awards in 2017 for their first built project. Lydia is a regular contributor in Homebuilding & Renovating magazine where she writes a blog on renovating a listed building.

This week we have been delighted by the Removes Production of ‘Teechers’. It is fitting that our OV of the week this week is Alex Humpage-Versavaud (S 94-03) who was himself involved with drama as student at King’s. During his time here, Alex was a Monitor and enjoyed taking part in Duke of Edinburgh and Young Enterprise.

After King’s, Alex studied Politics and Sociology at the University of Sheffield. After a six-month period researching trees in the rainforests of Belize, Alex embarked on a career in marketing. He worked on the PlayStation Europe account at OMD International and then headed up the Digital team on Universal Pictures at MediaCom, both in London.

More travel followed – 14 months setting foot in all 7 continents with his now wife, Céline, before setting up his own Digital Marketing business in 2017 in her hometown of Lyon, France. Alex continues to be based in the Rhône and in January of this year he started a new role as the first Media Director at Biborg, an agency specialising in Video Game Marketing.