{"id":4980,"date":"2021-11-22T13:38:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T13:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/?p=4980"},"modified":"2021-12-07T14:36:22","modified_gmt":"2021-12-07T14:36:22","slug":"media-student-lia-gillet-set-to-climb-kilimanjaro-in-aid-of-meningitis-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/2021\/11\/22\/media-student-lia-gillet-set-to-climb-kilimanjaro-in-aid-of-meningitis-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Media student Lia Gillett set to climb Kilimanjaro in aid of meningitis research"},"content":{"rendered":"

In between studies, Kent students often find time to dedicate to charitable causes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lia Gillett is studying <\/span>BA Media Studies <\/a>in the School of Arts. Next July she will embark on a week-long expedition to climb Kilimanjaro \u2013 Africa\u2019s tallest mountain \u2013 raising money for meningitis research. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After receiving a\u00a0flyer\u00a0in halls last year, Lia\u00a0jumped at the chance to take up the challenge. \u201cHaving grown up abroad, I\u2019ve always had this desire to travel and when this incredible opportunity came along, I just had to grab it!\u201d she said about her initial inspiration. \u201cHow often can you say that you\u2019ve trekked to the roof of Africa, the tallest mountain on its continent and you\u2019ve done it for an incredible charity?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The money Lia fundraises will go towards the Meningitis Research Foundation, a charity with the aim to eliminate meningitis by 2030. \u201cRaising awareness for this charity is so important because it can affect anyone.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0expedition\u00a0is currently scheduled for July 2022. Between now and then Lia will be\u00a0training\u00a0for\u00a0the physical demands of\u00a0the trek, which is classed as \u2018extreme\u2019 due to Kilimanjaro\u2019s altitude – 5,895 metres above sea level.\u00a0As well as completing daily step challenges to build up her endurance, Lia is also using an altitude mask to recreate the mountain\u2019s low-oxygen conditions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as physical training, Lia is also putting her media background into practice to raise her campaign\u2019s profile and awareness of meningitis. Following an energetic appearance on BBC Radio Kent, she is now preparing a campus-wide raffle and a local sports day to raise money for the charity. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on her journey so far, Lia states:\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s such an incredible feeling, knowing that all the time spent is going towards something so incredibly meaningful! Every time my phone dings it\u2019s a notification saying someone has donated\u00a0and\u00a0just makes my\u00a0heart beat\u00a0that extra bit faster and just makes me so happy! I\u2019ve hit the 25% marker and it keeps going up! My target is \u00a33,990 and reaching that would mean the absolute world not only to me it will make such a difference for the charity itself.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lia is sharing her progress on Instagram (@lia_fundraiser). If you would like to support Lia and the Meningitis Research Foundation, you can visit her\u00a0<\/span>JustGiving page<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In between studies, Kent students often find time to dedicate to charitable causes.\u00a0 Lia Gillett is studying BA Media Studies in the School of Arts. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77087,"featured_media":4981,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[168423,124,26567],"tags":[124],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77087"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4980"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4991,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4980\/revisions\/4991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/arts-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}