Dr Fiona Hill visit ‘The coalhouse to the White House’

Dr Fiona Hill, Chancellor of Durham University, appointed as the defence advisor to the UK government and Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, Washington DC, visited Durham Sixth Form Centre to give a presentation to year 12 students. Fiona shared with the students her pathway in life and how she got from ‘The coalhouse to the White House’, as she grew up in Bishop Auckland. Fiona shared a number of experiences on how she came to work at the White House and encouraged the students to ‘ask for help and for advice on how to do something.‘ Fiona stated ‘I ended up in these places because I asked’ referencing asking one person who connected her to another and so on. Her advice on working at the White House, ‘the best preparation for working at the White House would be reading Alice in Wonderland: The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, even the pink flamingos and all.’ Fiona was keen on discussing the partnership between Durham University, schools and Durham Sixth Form Centre and would like to see them working closely together for the good of the community, working out how we can fix things and what we can do? Principal Jo Lain, led a question and answer session which concluded with Jo asking Fiona, ‘What would be your legacy in your position as Chancellor of Durham University? How can County Durham improve? And how can we improve life in the North East?’