The Firebird Volume 2 (2016-17) | Page 13

Student Stories Grey College Trust Awards 2016-17 Brandon Fletcher -James: Visiting religious Icons in Poland “I would like to extend thanks to Grey college for awarding me the Grey college trust bursary to support my academic endeav- ours. The award supported my travel expenses around Poland - visiting Częstochowa where I was able to obtain primary research regarding the famous Christian icon the black Madonna- a object of Catholic orthodox worship shrouded in theological and cultural mystery. I also conducted interviews with pilgrims and local tourists which will aid me greatly in my dissertation. The remaining funds also supported my sojourn to the west of Poznan in Swie- bodzin via train where I was able to see Christ the King- a colossal statue depicting the triumphant Christ the regal divine. It was also possible to take some photo- graphs which I will include in the final draft of my thesis as visual aids of examples of contemporary Christian iconography.” Hugo Briggs: DUCK ex- pedition to Kilimnajaro Hugo Briggs was one of the lead- ers on this expedition on which a new nursery was built. He says: “I am pleased to report that the DUCK expedition to Kilimanjaro has successfully conquered the world’s highest free standing mountain, and raised £13,000 for the charity Coco in the process. We are extremely proud of both the new nursery near Moshi, Tanzania we have funded with our donations, and of our physical achievements.” 13 Tejaswini Krishnaprasad Pejathaya – European Debating Championships “In what was an exciting and chal- lenging week filled with debates on issues such as how developing countries should interact with the WTO, social media trends, women in STEM, ethics in medicine pro- duction, modernising warfare tac- tics and more, Durham B finished in the Top 50 teams in Europe at the European Universities Debat- ing Championships 2017. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I’m so grateful to have had that opportunity.”