Meet Toby, our new Student Services Support team member at Kings Oxford.
Hi Toby, what do you do at Kings?
My role is Student Services Support, so I’m a part of the frontline team at St Joe’s and St Mike’s helping students out with any and all queries they might have. I also get to help the activities team out with the odd excursion around Oxfordshire and beyond.
How long have you worked at Kings and what did you do before?
I’ve been at King’s for just over two weeks, and before I waited tables at a restaurant in Jericho called Branca.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Getting to know the students has been the biggest thrill thus far. The student body at King’s is so wonderfully diverse – during a student induction day recently I had passports from Korea, Angola, Brazil, Japan and Saudi Arabia on my desk – that no two days are ever the same. It’s also exciting to think that I might be able to help someone get the most out of Oxford while they are here, and contribute in some way to formative experiences in their lives.
What do you like most about Oxford?
This is a difficult question to answer in many ways because Oxford is principally my home and has been my whole life. It’s a bit like asking yourself what you like most about your favourite armchair or pair of slippers. I’ve tried a few times to pin down what it is about Oxford, why I haven’t moved away to London or Bristol or Manchester, as many around me have. I think mostly about its beauty, both architectural and natural, then of its people and universities and stories, its murky past, stubborn future and ever-restless present. Oxford is many things to the many, many people that flow through it every year, but for me, in the end, it’s where I feel home.
Where is the best place you’ve ever visited?
Fraser Island in Australia.
What is the last book you read?
Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire by Kurt Anderson.
What is your favourite film?
If I’m attempting to appear cultured my favourite film is The Silence of the Lambs, if I’m being honest, it’s School of Rock.
Who would play you in a film of your life?
I have been told on more than one occasion that I look like Wentworth Miller from the TV show Prison Break, so maybe him? Someone else once said I looked like Ewan McGregor which was flattering, until he clarified that he specifically meant Ewan McGregor’s character in Trainspotting.
Which well-known figure would you most like to invite to dinner?
If I’m attempting to appear cultured I’d say Anthony Hopkins, if I’m being honest I’d say Jack Black.
What is your favourite quote?
Spike Milligan - “Education isn’t everything, for a start it isn’t an elephant.”
