Get to know Roger Harrison – LSF Chair of Governors
At the start of this school year, we shared that Roger Harrison (LGS 1992) was appointed as the new Chair of the Foundation. Roger served for 7 years as Chair of the Loughborough high School Board and made a great impact: he is patient, energetic, kind and fully committed to the Schools. Our governors are volunteers, and we are lucky that someone of Roger’s calibre is willing to step up to the top job. We interviewed Roger, to get to know him more:
What are you most looking forward to in your role as Chair of Governors?
The schools have been through turbulent times in the last few years, and I am looking forward to the challenge of getting us back on track. The impact of the pandemic and other issues have hit us hard, like everyone else. We have survived and I am looking forward to us thriving again.
You were previously Chair of the Loughborough High School Board, what did you enjoy most about that role?
The role of Chair of one of the school boards is one of the most rewarding for a governor within the Foundation. You build a close working relationship with our excellent Heads and get to appreciate their vision for their school and can see their ideas shape the day to day, and their pupil’s futures.
As an alumnus of Loughborough Grammar School, what inspired you to return to the Schools?
I have been very fortunate, benefitting from everything the Grammar School had to offer during my time at the School. When I was afforded the opportunity to return and give something back to the school and charity that helped me, I was delighted. Giving to charity is a wonderful thing to be able to do, but giving your time is just as valuable.
What was your favourite subject in school?
Maths. I still love the inevitability in finding the right solution, in maths, unlike most of life, there is an objectively right answer. Once you understand the rules, that beauty and simplicity is captivating. In most problem solving you are balancing inherently different values, weighing opportunities and risks that sometimes have no good solution only a best one.
Which teachers do you remember and why?
I remember most of my teachers in some way. From Mr Weitzel who learnt everyone’s name in our first Maths lesson in year 7, to Mr Thorpe who made Chemistry fun and really improved my basketball shooting. What I mostly remember about them is their enthusiasm. I remember them all fondly, and when I bump into some of them who are still in Loughborough it is interesting to hear what they remember.
Do you have a standout memory from your time at LGS?
It is difficult to pick out an individual memory from 7 years at LGS, like most people it is not what is said or done that really sticks in my memory, but how those events made me feel. The highs of a good performance playing rugby for the School, or the trepidation of something I hadn’t prepared for, but mostly the team spirit of things like house choir when as Wallace junior choir we were truly appalling.
As well as Chair of Governors, you are also an architect, when did you know that was what you wanted to do?
For most people doing vocational degrees – they know, or at least they think they do quite early on in life. That was not the case for me. I didn’t really know until having worked for a year in London after completing my degree as I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to do the 2nd part of my university training. I opted for another year out and used it to work abroad in the booming economy of South East Asia, and that made up my mind that architecture was the career for me.
Do you have any hobbies that keep you busy in your spare time?
Tennis is my main hobby, to such an extent that I qualified as a coach a few years ago and now help and encourage others to play. Other hobbies have taken a bit of a back seat.
What are you most proud of – this could either be within your career or personally.
Projects that have delivered genuine change for the community, be that a Church that engaged with a new building project and has become an established growing community or a sports club that has broken the expectations of its sport and become a year round inclusive environment that is thriving.
What would you say to alumni interested in volunteering with their old school today?
There are lots of ways to volunteer at LGS, the School are constantly looking for people to speak to pupils, mentor, help with events and societies – the opportunities are limitless. If you are interested in volunteering or would like to see the School providing a new opportunity to pupils please do get in touch. It is incredibly rewarding to feel you are influencing a genuine change for the future and I wholeheartedly recommend that you give it a go.