The Scholars Programme inspires a love of learning in students aged 8-18, providing practical experience of higher education and helping students develop the skills needed to thrive in academia and their careers.
We’re proud of the impact our programme has on both GCSE attainment and university progression; we’re also incredibly proud of what students have gone on to achieve since taking part in The Scholars Programme. In this vein, we wanted to share a student ambassador Stallan’s story with you.
Our student ambassador, Stallan Da Silva, completed The Scholars Programme when he was in Year 12 at St Wilfrid’s Catholic Comprehensive School in Crawley. Here he explains how The Scholars Programme helped him pursue a Sociology degree at the University of Bristol:
“I was on The Scholars Programme because I’m from a disadvantaged neighbourhood where university attendance is incredibly low. Neither of my parents have any university education, but they’ve prioritised my education from a young age. They both encouraged me to do well in school, but they didn’t have too much knowledge of the UK education system.
My PhD tutor was a specialist in archaeology, and we studied how archaeology can be used to study childhood in medieval England. She was so passionate about her subject and that was amazing to experience. Practising essay-writing at university level – learning what reviewers are looking for, and referencing etc. – was really useful for when I got to university.
The idea that I could get into the top universities really impacted me and built up my confidence. I’m now thinking about potentially doing a master’s degree or a PhD. The knowledge of university was really useful for me, and ultimately if I had learnt that university wasn’t for me then it would have saved me having to go to find that out.
The Scholars Programme helps people gain confidence that they can go to university, particularly in a community where people’s parents haven’t gone to university. The programme is useful in bringing people together who have similar backgrounds, especially as people don’t openly talk about how much money their parents have. Building a community around you brings a level of comfortability about your background, and it is inspiring to see someone with a similar background to you doing so well!
If I could speak to myself when I was younger I would say that it isn’t all about knowing what you want to do from an early age – things change in life and you don’t know what you’ll end up wanting to do. If you had told me in Year 10 that I was going to do a sociology degree, I would think you’re absolutely mad because I used to love maths and science and thought that was what I was going to do. Everything will come together in the end and there’s always more to learn.”
Stallan has since been involved with The Brilliant Club as one of our wonderful student ambassadors, where he has taken part in further activities and opportunities with us, including writing a guest article on overcoming setbacks and growing from failure for our journal of student essays, The Scholar.
The Scholars Programme helps school and college students from less advantaged backgrounds to progress to competitive universities and succeed when they get there.
To learn more about how The Scholars Programme can benefit your students for university and beyond, it only takes two minutes to make an enquiry.
Maheea’s story: how The Scholars Programme inspired her interest in healthcare and to study Pharmacy at UCL.
Abigail’s story: how taking part in The Scholars Programme within her Welsh valleys school helped her pursue higher education.