Skip to content
Churchill College Logo
  • Quick Links
    • Think Forward
    • Conferences
    • Archives Centre
    • Fellows
    • Staff Resources
  • Latest News
  • Events
  • Alumni and Supporters
  • Study At Churchill
  • Student Hub
  • 50 Years of Women
  • Donate
Hamburger menu icon
Search button

Quick Links

  • Quick Links
    • Think Forward
    • Conferences
    • Archives Centre
    • Fellows
    • Staff Resources
Twitter logo Facebook logo Instagram logo YouTube logo LinkedIn Logo Pinterest Logo
  • About the College

    About the CollegeView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Celebrating 50 Years of Women at Churchill College
      • Churchill Identity

        Churchill IdentityView Page

        • Music at Churchill
        • History of the College
        • Churchill, Empire and Race
        • Women at Churchill
        • Grounds & Gardens
        • Publications and Recordings
      • Music at Churchill

        Music at ChurchillView Page

        • Instruments
        • Music Scholarships and Bursaries
        • Churchill Music Society ChuMs
        • Inter Alios Choir
        • Orchestra on the hill
      • News and Events

        News and EventsView Page

        • Upcoming Events
        • Events Calendar
      • Working at Churchill

        Working at ChurchillView Page

        • Current Vacancies
        • Academic Vacancies
        • Staff Resources
      • Master and Fellowship

        Master and FellowshipView Page

        • Fellowship Directory
        • Fellowships at Churchill College
        • Academic Vacancies
        • Nobel Prize Winners
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
      • The Chapel
      • Visit Us
      • Staff Directory
      • Conferences
  • Study At Churchill

    Study At ChurchillView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Undergraduates

        UndergraduatesView Page

        • List Left Col Wrapper
          • Study At Churchill
          • Apply | Undergraduates
          • Courses | Undergraduates
          • Fees and Costs | Undergraduates
          • Application FAQs | Undergraduates
          • Online Q&As and Schools Liaison
          • Visit Us
        • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Postgraduates

        PostgraduatesView Page

        • List Left Col Wrapper
          • Applying to Churchill
          • How to apply
          • Fees and costs
          • Life at Churchill
          • Accommodation | Postgraduate
          • Partners and families
          • MCR Committee
          • CHUtalks
        • List Right Col Wrapper
          • Visit Us
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Executive Education
      • Meet Our Students
  • Student Hub

    Student HubView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Living at the College

        The CollegeView Page

        • Clubs and Societies
        • Map of Cambridge
        • Upcoming Events
        • Events
        • Music at Churchill
        • Share your news
        • Graduation
      • College Dining

        College DiningView Page

        • College Bar (The Buttery)
        • Formal Halls
        • Weekly Menus
      • Health, Welfare & Support

        Health, Welfare & SupportView Page

        • College Nurse and Surgery
        • Counselling Services
        • Welfare and Medical Support
        • Financial Support
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Quick Links
      • Resources
  • Alumni and Supporters

    Alumni and SupportersView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • Giving to the College

        Giving to the CollegeView Page

        • How to give
        • Making a Tax Efficient Gift
      • Why give?

        Why give?View Page

        • Think Forward
        • How you can help us to go forward
        • Making a Tax Efficient Gift
        • Current Projects
      • Get Involved

        Get InvolvedView Page

        • Events
        • Churchill Connect
    • List Right Col Wrapper
      • Current Projects
      • Contact Us
  • Archives
  • Contact Us
  • Conferences

    ConferencesView Page

    • List Left Col Wrapper
      • What We Offer

        What We OfferView Page

        • Accommodation
        • AV Equipment
        • Bespoke Conferencing
        • Dining
        • Grounds and Facilities
        • Grounds and Tours
      • Our Meeting Rooms
      • Christmas Functions
      • Pricing
      • Contact Us
    • List Right Col Wrapper
Back to list

Katie Thacker

History (U19)

“The reality is many students at Churchill struggle financially and I promise you that whatever support you’re able to provide the college – however big or small – will have real, tangible impacts on students here.”

Katie Thacker (U19) is a second year studying History at Churchill. She is particularly interested in both global history and modern British social history and finds studying topics that are close to her heart, such as class and gender, incredibly interesting. Katie comes from a low-income background in Essex and is the first person in her family to attend university.

Before coming to Cambridge, Katie attended a local state grammar school. It was there she decided she wanted to attend university, although Cambridge felt out of reach until sixth form. She was inspired by some incredible teachers – Mrs Sanderson and Mrs Davidson – who helped her to love her subject as well as giving her the confidence to believe she could study it at university, and without whom she feels she wouldn’t be here!

Since coming to Cambridge, Katie has received financial support in the form of an annual Cambridge Bursary and a Winston Churchill Top-Up Bursary. Katie’s experience paints a clear picture of the vital role this type of bursary funding plays in the lives of those who need it:

Money was a huge worry for me from the moment we received our offers, due to the high advance deposit required and the fact we’re unable to have a part-time job alongside our degree. The bursary has enabled me to cope when unexpected additional costs have cropped up, such as laptop repairs or replacing my bike when it got stolen, as well as helping me to afford to stay at College for parts of the holidays to study, due to a lack of study space at home. It has also helped me to fully participate in life at Churchill and in Cambridge. From being able to afford membership of the societies I wanted to join, such as the Cambridge Union to being able to attend formals and May week events alongside my friends.

But it is not just the big things that have made a difference. Katie has also valued the small things – such as being able to say yes to grabbing lunch with a friend made in fresher’s week without having to worry about whether or not she could afford it – which have made all the difference to her time here and enabled her to grab all the opportunities that have come her way. Essentially, the bursary support removed the stress of having to constantly worry about money and allowed Katie to focus on the important things – something for which she feels immensely grateful.

Katie has hugely enjoyed her time at Churchill College thus far and particularly appreciates the lack of expectations to be a certain type of person, or to fit a certain mould:

Before coming to Cambridge, you very much have a perception of who the typical Cambridge student looks like, but within days of arriving at Churchill I realised this wasn’t true. There are no archaic rules or procedures to follow, and the relaxed environment at Churchill has helped me to feel comfortable with who am I without feeling like I need to change parts of myself to fit in.

She also likes that it’s slightly out of the centre, away from the tourists and the grand architecture, ‘It’s such a different (and less imposing!) atmosphere that coming back home after lectures feels like taking a sigh of relief.’ And her second favourite thing is Blazing Saddles, the on-site bike shop, which has saved her life (or bike!) more times than she can count.

Katie is now half-way through her degree and whilst her plans after graduation are still somewhat up in the air, she is really interested in going into Journalism. She is currently the Editor-in-chief for the Tab Cambridge, a student newspaper and writing for the Tab has really helped develop her passion for journalism – in particular news reporting and interviews. She is also considering a career in public policy and working with NGOs to help influence government policy, for example in relation to education or poverty as these are matters which are very close to her heart. If this is the case, she’d love to do a masters in either policy or history, dependent on securing funding. The dream would be to work at the UN one day, but she thinks there might be a bit of time before that!

Above all, Katie’s time at Churchill has been made by receiving financial support from the College. However, she is very aware that for every student like her who has benefitted from receiving financial support from Churchill there are multiple students who have had applications for bursaries or hardship grants rejected because there aren’t the funds available; ‘The reality is many students at Churchill struggle financially and I promise you that whatever support you’re able to provide the college – however big or small – will have real, tangible impacts on students here.’

Read other Student Stories here

 

Cambridge University Logo

Follow us:

Twitter logo Facebook logo Instagram logo YouTube logo LinkedIn Logo Pinterest Logo
  • Student Hub
    • Quick Links
    • Events
    • Health, Welfare & Support
    • Resources
  • Study At Churchill
    • Undergraduates
    • Postgraduates
    • Meet Our Students
    • College Clubs and Societies
  • Alumni and Supporters
    • Giving to the College
    • Why give?
    • Current Projects
    • Get Involved
    • Contact Us
  • About the College
    • Churchill Identity
    • Staff Directory
    • Working at Churchill
    • Visit Us
    • Contact Us
  • Archives Centre
    • Our Collections
    • Visit us
    • Copies and Research
    • Online Resources
    • About Us
  • Conferences
    • What We Offer
    • Our Meeting Rooms
    • Christmas Functions
    • Pricing
    • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Statutes and Ordinances
  • Official Documents
  • Race Equality
Website design by Crucible

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.

Churchill College
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!