Recently, we spoke to Georgina Horwich who was one of our 2023 Engineering Scholars, completing a 2 week work placement with Affinity Flying Training Services last summer. We caught up with her to talk about her experience and her plan for the future, in anticipation of the 2024 Scholarships closing to applications on 12th May!
“Hello! I’m Georgie and I studied Math, Physics, Chemistry and AS Further Maths at school. I went onto study Aeronautics and Astronautics BEng at The University of Southampton and I graduated in September 2023. My interest in aerospace started young. I’m not quite sure when it started but whenever I’ve gone anywhere with my parents, we’ve tended to visit aeroplane museums. I live under the Heathrow flight path and regularly see chinooks which is always very interesting. I properly started following it when I joined the Combined Cadet Force RAF (CCF RAF) section while I was at school and took full advantage of what it had to offer me. I also joined the University Air Squadron while at Southampton and have recently rejoined the CCF RAF as a Commissioned Officer to pass the knowledge I’ve gained over the last few years back to the cadets.
I applied for the Air League’s Engineering Scholarship because whilst I had an interest in aerospace engineering, I never quite knew how the degree I was doing translated into what I could do after. Having been through COVID the option for placement and informal work visits was not possible and I didn’t want to be in the dark for what my options were for after my degree. I knew very little about what actually went on in industry in terms of job opportunities which weren’t manufacturing or design as I had realised during my degree that these areas weren’t for me.
The Engineering Scholarship with Affinity has been an eye opener in terms of showing me the other areas of aviation management which I did not get through my degree. Everyone was really friendly and willing to talk about what their job role is and how that impacts on the operation of the company as a whole. The best bits of my placement were being in the airworthiness and planning departments. These were areas I was interested in for future careers but did not really know what those job roles entailed. The Air League has provided me a way to explore an engineering company who has a very unique role within defence aviation and learn more about the behind the scenes jobs that I could go into from my degree. With COVID, I’ve had very little opportunity to gain work experience, so this placement has been extremely beneficial for me going forward giving me experience for the future.
Since finishing my degree, I’ve spent time recovering from spinal surgery and getting my health in order after a rocky few years. I had been rewriting my undergraduate dissertation into something which I hope can be submitted to be published. I am also hoping to go off to university to do an MSc in Project Management in September.
My advice for anyone thinking of applying this year would be go for it! The only thing holding you back is yourself. You never know what is around the corner and this might be the start of something very exciting which opens doors you didn’t know where there. Affinity is a wonderful place to learn, full of very experienced and approachable people who are very willing to share their knowledge with the next generation of aerospace engineers.”
– Georgina Horwich, 2023 Air League Engineering Scholar at Affinity Flying Training Services.
