Ray Wyand

My gap year was an unplanned event, I came to d’Overbroeck’s with a mixture of B’s and C’s at GCSE level and was quite content to go to a fairly decent university and get a fairly decent job. That all changed fairly quickly! It was my Director of Studies who said I should not settle for anything but the best and it was this that inspired me to work harder and aim higher. In fact, after my first year I was so impressed by how far I had come I rejected all the universities I had planned for and took the gamble of applying to Cambridge. It meant that I would have to take a gap year, something I had barely thought about let alone planned. It started slowly, a bit of travel, a bit of work and a lot of rest. Too much rest in retrospect.

A brief stint in script writing for the BBC was interesting but never felt like the road I wanted to go down in my life. My second job was tougher, as a legal clerk. I took on huge responsibility and submerged myself in the complex delights of the British legal system. I loved every second of it, I loved sitting in court watching the case unfold and it was the type of hands on experience that people my age so rarely get the chance to indulge in. But even this didn’t feel like it was where I needed to go. It was a chance meeting with an old d’Overbroeckian that changed everything; he had big aspirations and a big heart, not to mention a crazy idea that was so off the wall it could work. So we set about starting a business together, with him in the driving seat and me next to him giving directions we formed a successful partnership.

The airline we’ve founded is our baby, its something the two of us have literally built from nothing, it is something I take immense pride in even being associated with. I’ve come a long way in a year, I never did get into Cambridge but an offer from Kings in London went a long way to easing the disappointment. And if it wasn’t for my audacious application I would never have experienced what I did, so it just goes to show that things always happen for a reason.

d’Overbroeck’s is an incredibly original school; one of the few that regards students as individuals and develops them in every way they can. Being here was probably the best experience of my life; everyone who has been here misses it tremendously when they leave.