Georgina Wins Scholarship in Prestigious Essay Writing Competition – Burgess Hill Girls

24 Sep 2020

Burgess Hill Girls is an independent girls day and boarding school in West SussexBurgess Hill Girls pupil Georgina Wrigg has beaten thousands of other students to gain a scholarship on one of Immerse Education’s summer courses.

Immerse Education is an award-winning provider of immersive summer academic programmes for students led by tutors from world-class universities including Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard. They run a hugely popular essay writing competition with winners and runners-up securing scholarships at one of their summer programmes at Cambridge University. This year was the competition’s most successful year with thousands of entries globally.

Georgina Wrigg, a 15-year-old pupil at Burgess Hill Girls, was a runner-up in the 16 – 18-year-old category, with her response to the question: “Legal decisions should be automated using algorithms. Discuss.”

Georgina’s essay, which you can read in full on the Burgess Hill Girls website, reached the conclusion that although algorithms offer the possibility of “rapid calculation”, the difficulties of verifying their judgement meant they would continue the “maltreatment of minority groups” and “should not be prioritised over erasing the bias within our legal system which can be better-achieved by continuing to have legal decisions made by lawyers.”

Georgina cannot wait to take up her prize, in the summer of 2021:

“I am immensely grateful to have been awarded this opportunity and can only hope I will be able to use it to do something effective in the future.”

Burgess Hill Girls Head, Liz Laybourn, is incredibly proud of Georgina’s success.

“This achievement is indicative of an outstanding student who continues to follow the Burgess Hill Girls ethos by taking opportunities and pushing herself out of her comfort zone.  There is no glass ceiling for Georgina!”