WHERE ARE THEY NOW Jeremy Akhavi

I left Mill Hill rather recently in 2017 and embarked on my gap year. I am now in my first year at Loughborough studying Mechanical Engineering.

I’ve mainly spent my gap year recovering, as I was just finishing chemo as I left Mill Hill but that opened up a whole world of opportunities that I’ve taken advantage of. Some might describe them as ‘cancer perks’ but I’ve been lucky enough to go clay pigeon shooting at Highclere castle, go to New York, go sailing and so many other things that had I gone straight to university as I’d previously been planning I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do.

I’ve also spent the year doing a fair bit of volunteering to try and give back to a lot of the charities that helped me throughout treatment; I’ve been giving speeches at fundraising dinners, working as part of an All Party Parliamentary Group to try and influence cancer care policy in the UK and I’ve had the opportunity to travel to Brussels to work with the European Parliament and Commission on drafting a white paper that will improve cancer care across Europe.

Some of you from Mill Hill that knew me might remember that I was a tad geeky and quite obsessed with Apple products, so I decided to try and get a job that I would really enjoy for my gap year. I landed a job working as a Specialist for Apple in the Regent Street store which has been quite a fun experience to say the least.

What were you like at school?

I started Mill Hill as a rather shy introverted 13 year old, too scared to put my hand up in class. But over the years I think I found my stride and some passions at school through Rugby, CCF, public speaking and loads of the extra curricular actives. I hope I had somewhat of a positive energy through my time at Mill Hill and contributed to other people’s experience at the school as much as everyone else contributed to mine.

The funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

After giving a speech at a fundraising dinner for a charity in Highclere Castle I was casually chatting with someone and after about 15 minutes of conversation I asked him who he was and what he did - turned out he was the Lord that owned the castle! Awkward.

What has been the most positive thing you have taken from your school days into your adult life?

Realising the importance of having a balanced life was one of the most positive things I took from Mill Hill. The school wasn’t an exams factory that forced us to study for 12 hours a day, we were encouraged to take part in many of the extracurricular activities so that we could find things we were passionate about. Mill Hill created a real atmosphere of work hard and play hard.

What’s the most interesting thing about you?

I was very lucky in being able to deliver a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York earlier this year. I was the closing speaker at the opening ceremony of the Economic and Social Forum in front of about 400 UN delegates and guests.

If you were a boarder at Mill Hill, how did you find that experience, the good and the bad?

I was in Ridgeway House for my final two years at Mill Hill as a weekly boarder. I absolutely loved it, as an only child it was especially incredible to live with people a similar age to me, and the fact I got to live with some of my best friends made it so much better. I loved how close we all got as a house, through horror movie night on Fridays to playing ‘spoons’ in the kitchen - it was all just so fun, definitely the best couple of years of my life so far. The worst bit about boarding was probably just the long(ish) walk between Ridgeway and the main part of school, though this was made a lot easier while I had my brief stint on a mobility scooter after coming back to school from hospital, it was such a relaxing drive to and from the dining hall.

What is your proudest moment and why?

Mill Hill gave me so many things to be proud of, it’s hard to pick a particular ‘proudest moment’, but I was really happy to be able to sit my A Level exams whilst I was on chemo and also continue my role as Senior Monitor. To be able to put that into a specific moment was probably the day I finished my final exam, I’d finished my last IV chemo two days before - the feeling was unrivalled.

Do you keep in touch with any OMs?

I’m still in contact with lots of mates from school, we still get to see each other all the time during uni holidays. I’ve also met loads more OMs through the network during organised events such as formal dinners. We also make great use of the National Liberal Club for our CCF reunions.

What’s your driving force?

The fact that we’re only going to be around for about 80-90 years if we’re lucky, might as well enjoy every moment and try to help others enjoy it too, work hard and be able to look back on everything we’ve done with fond memories.

Most inspiring teacher at school and why?

I was incredibly fortunate to have so many inspiring teachers at school. My tutor throughout my time in Ridgeway and ever inspiring physics teacher was Mr Watterson, his passion for everything he does was infectious and is something I always aspire to have. It’s impossible to pick one ‘most inspiring’ though as so many different teachers had such a huge impact on my time at Mill Hill, everyone especially pulled together to really help me through chemo from Dr Peat who came to the hospital to invigilate my Politics exam to Mr Carruthers who helped me with all the maths lessons I had to miss throughout his lunchtimes and free periods and Dr Warden who was always a beam of positivity and encouragement. Even though he wasn’t necessarily my ‘teacher’ I got to know Mr Kyle really well through CCF and Chapel, he is everything a teacher should be, he’s empathetic, fun, chatty, dedicated, passionate and he always talks about how much he loves his job.

Which four famous people would you invite to a dinner party?

Johnny Ive, Donald Trump (purely for entertainment), Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II.

Favourite memory from your time at Mill Hill School?

My favourite memory is annoyingly not one singular memory, but instead all of the CCF camps that we had the opportunity to go on, especially the summer camps, we all just got on so well as a CCF group they were all endless fun, we’d always belt out Jerusalem and I Vow to Thee My Country on the minibus journeys to and from camp as well as several other CCF bangers. A close second has to be our 5th Form GCSE History class, I was absolutely dreadful at history as a subject and wasn’t really interested in the topics, but it’s not about what you’re doing, it’s about the people you’re with, and we had such a good laugh.

If you won £10 million in the lottery, what would you do with the money?

I would definitely donate some money to the ABC bursary fund at school so that more people will have the privilege of spending their school years at Mill Hill. A large chunk would go to some charities that help young people battling cancer as I know first hand what a huge impact their work has. The rest I would probably rather selfishly use to treat myself, my family and close friends to some luxury holidays around the world with a chunk being invested to ensure I could continue living that luxury lifestyle.

Your favourite quote?

“Life can be a burden or a blessing, the choice is yours” - just highlights that it doesn’t matter what life throws at you, it’s all about how to take it.

A piece of advice you would pass on to those leaving Mill Hill School?

Reflect on everything you learnt at Mill Hill, not necessarily the academic teaching, but things like the importance of having a well rounded approach to life and the importance of close friendships.