Bits and bobs about the members of the Club - a little blog from Nathan Blockley
Hi, I’m Nathan Blockley and I was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1997. No, that is not a typo, I am only 23 years old and still a member of West Perth Rotary. My grandfather, Peter Blockley, was the one who got me interested in rotary after the club helped me attend the national youth science forum in 2014 when I was only in high school at Hale.
I am an only child, only having my father’s side of the family in Perth – my mothers’ side are all back in Herefordshire, UK, where she was born. Growing up I always loved my sport. I started karate when I was 5 years old upon finding one of my father’s old kung-fu grading certificates from when he was only a child. I continued to compete in karate at state, national and international level. However, I have stopped competing for the time being but I’m still training and coaching. I also recently started playing footy as of last year, I’m a big blues supporter and will put the health of my future kids on Charlie Curnow winning the Coleman in his future years.
Since I left school, I have studied my Bachelor of Science at UWA completing it in 2018. I took a gap year for 2019 and worked as a removalist in order to fund expensive travelling habits. This year, 2020, I am studying my honours in muscular dystrophy again at UWA. I am measuring protein expression in damaged muscles from mdx mice which are the animal model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. I am currently deciding my plans for the future – I could see myself doing my PhD, studying medicine and also studying either of these abroad in the US.
The only point I haven’t addressed from the guide supplied to me is ‘Your family at present – children, partner (if any)’. My answer is firstly, I hope not – and secondly, no I do not have a partner thanks for rubbing it it.
