Now a Clinical Specialist in Head and Neck Cancer Services, Ruth Price (Carpenter) values highly the friendships she made here at Queen’s.
When Ruth Price (Carpenter) came to The Queen’s School at age 11, her mother, Mrs Viv Carpenter, teacher of Modern Languages, rather conveniently left for a while. Later, Ruth’s choice of A levels - Biology, RS, Music and Chemistry AS - was clearly not influenced by her mum and when Mrs Carpenter returned to Queen’s and moved towards the careers department, Ruth declares that the excellent careers advice and support over the UCAS process that she received at The Queen’s School were certainly not exclusively for family!
As well as the academic support, Ruth values highly the friendships she made here at Queen’s, with Laura having been her best friend since Year 7. Ruth also offers the advice to be proud, and not in any way ashamed of being from an independent school - the world is full of all sorts and there will always be a range of backgrounds represented in any field or discipline you end up in.
Having left school, Ruth went to Northumbria University to do her three year degree course in Physiotherapy. Another piece of advice for university is not to underestimate the hard work involved in a vocational degree. Graduating from uni then meant more hard work as Ruth returned to Cheshire and worked for four months as a therapy assistant at the Countess of Chester Hospital. Thankfully accommodation was available at home, as the pay for that role most certainly did not reflect Ruth’s qualifications or levels of work!
Her first proper job as junior physiotherapist followed, then a move to Aintree for promotion, then another promotion to her current role as Clinical Specialist in Head and Neck Cancer Services.
Ruth explained to me what physiotherapy is and made me understand that it’s not one track. Indeed, there is a need for physiotherapy expertise in every medical speciality. Ruth readily admits that she was shy at school, but is rapidly learning her worth, particularly as her role becomes more specialised. She says “It’s all about having confidence in yourself,” which of course is something that Queen’s works at very hard.
Ruth feels that one of the main advantages of Queen’s is the amount of attention girls receive without being spoon-fed. When we moved on to aspects of life other than work, we agreed that a strong social network is a very good foil to academic endeavour, although there is certainly no need for it to intrude into the classroom! Judging from Ruth’s smile she seems to be entirely successful in maintaining a balance of hard work and a happy life.