Celebrating Success: Amelia Powell

Amelia Powell (2015, BA European and Middle Eastern Languages) recently graduated from Pembroke with First Class Honours. In addition to this, she received the LIDL prize, a university-wide award given for the best performance in submitted German coursework, as well as the Mustafa Badawi Prize in Modern Arabic Literature. We spoke to Amelia, who reflected on her time as an undergraduate at Pembroke.

“When I first came to Pembroke, I had no idea of the opportunities and challenges that I would encounter during my time here. With hindsight, I am very glad that I started my time here with the intention of learning a completely new skill – it’s a theme that has run throughout my university experience, and which has made my time here so rewarding.

One of the most exciting things about studying European and Middle Eastern languages at Oxford is the freedom to explore a range of disciplines. The paper I enjoyed writing most was my bridge essay, in which I chose to discuss migrant narratives in German and Arabic, because it allowed me to bring together ideas from all areas of my course in new and exciting ways.

Study abroad has been a very important part of my university experience. I was fortunate enough to spend an academic year developing my Arabic skills in Amman, attend a German summer school at Bamberg university, and take part in the Arabic Language Scheme hosted by the Anglo-Omani society in Manah. With a scholarship from Pembroke I was even able to travel to Tsinghua University to learn about urban development in China.

The Pembroke community is a wonderful environment to find new interests and learn new things. I hugely enjoyed becoming part of PCBC, both as a rower and as club secretary in my third year, even though I came to university with no intention of taking up a new sport. My main piece of advice to incoming students would be to use your time here to find what interests you, and to keep an open mind about where your time at Pembroke will take you.”

This is the third article in our 2020 news series celebrating high performing Pembroke undergraduate students and recent alumni in their examinations. The first, which focuses on the collective exams success of the students this year, can be found here.