"I distinctly remember sitting in my Australian bedroom, Googling Cambridge colleges, and trying to make the agonising decision of which college to choose. When I came across the Corpus Christi website, photos of the picturesque Leckhampton House filled my screen and I immediately felt at home. How little did I know then that Corpus Christi College would truly become my second home and the setting for one of the happiest periods of my life," Eliza reminisces.

When she arrived at Corpus in 2019 to undertake her first Master's (a Master of Law) she enthusiastically threw herself into every aspect of College life. She was elected MCR Library Officer and oversaw the renovation and re-opening of the beautiful Leckhampton Library. Along with her teammate Dominic Bielby, she won the Cambridge vs Oxford Corpus Challenge Moot and was thrilled to be awarded the Corpus Christi College Postgraduate Prize for outstanding examination results.

However, the years of 2019-20 were also marred by the pandemic and, for an Australian, that meant the scary and isolating reality of being unable to return home. Leckhampton, and the strength of its community, came to the fore in those months. Socially-distanced picnics, Zoom book clubs, tending to the Leckhampton allotments, and restorative walks around the gardens sustained Eliza and made that time not only bearable, but enjoyable.

Eliza returned to Corpus in 2022 on a Cambridge Australia Allen Scholarship, funded by Charles Allen (m1956, NatSci), to undertake a second Master's (an MPhil in Public Policy), and relished being able to complete the Cambridge experience which, in many ways, the pandemic had cut short. She recalls taking out one of the new Corpus punts with friends and steering it up and down the backs, with only one close call of nearly ending up in the Cam! Partying the night away at the 2023 Corpus May Ball with all her College friends was another definite highlight, as was finally getting to process down Trumpington Street and have her degree conferred in the Senate House.

"As I walked out of the Corpus gate, with all the Corpus staff clapping and cheering, I could not help but become emotional. It is not an understatement to say that my time at Cambridge changed the trajectory of my life. It has been an intense experience, full of enriching academic, professional, cultural and personal opportunities, with my Leckhampton family as the bedrock of it all. Suffice to say, Corpus is now part of my DNA and I will miss being a part of this unique place, which is so steeped in history and yet so connected to the future."

Following the completion of her degrees, Eliza accepted the position of Research Fellow in the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Additionally, after being appointed the inaugural President of the Cambridge Australia Scholarships (CAS) scholar and alumni community in 2022, she was honoured to be invited to join the CAS Board in 2023 as Director of Alumni. She looks forward to continuing her passion for empowering talented students to attend Cambridge and, hopefully, encourage them to become part of the vibrant Corpus community.