One of our major aims is to set up more social and networking hubs for groups of OPs all over the world.
One of these was very successfully held in San Francisco recently for Old Paulines and Old Paulinas.
SPS Teacher of Geography and Head of Entrepreneurship, Nick Troen (1998-03), met guests on the USA’s west coast as part of a fact-finding mission to learn more about the endeavours of alumni in the Los Angeles and Bay Area.
In San Francisco’s buzzing downtown district, over 25 alumni from across 40 years enjoyed drinks and nibbles at The Cordial. It was particularly inspiring to hear how Stanford students, such as Ismail Mardin (2016-21) and Julius Zhang (2017-19), were actively working on entrepreneurial ventures inspired by their experience of the Young Enterprise programme while at school, in addition to some of the climate-based start-ups that were being developed by the likes of Nick Josefovitz (1996-01).
Catching up with Old Paulinas Claire Pajot and Olivia Brown, amongst others, further emphasised the strong presence of alumni of both schools in the Bay Area.
A huge thanks must go to Nick Josefowitz and Alex Lewis-Oakes (2001-06) for organising and generously subsidising the entire event.
Additionally, in Los Angeles, UCLA student Rourke Palmer (2016-21) and UCSB student Adam Rowe (2016-21) took time out of their busy days to outline their experiences studying in California, both endorsing the benefits of studying in a culture of high academic and wellbeing standards.
Both expounded the advantages of the entrepreneurial mindset embedded in university life, with exciting opportunities in tech start-ups proving abundant.
