Following on from last year’s hugely successful student led Roadshow, on the 13th of March 2017, ten student ambassadors from Somerville College will be returning to schools in our target areas of Hounslow and Kingston-Upon-Thames to run workshops on Higher Education and studying at Oxford for students in Year 10, 11 and 12. First-year Medicine undergraduate and JCR Access and Admissions Officer, Nandana Syam, reports on the upcoming Somerville Access Roadshow.
This year’s Access Roadshow Ambassadors are (from left): Joanne McAtear (Physics, 2014), Chloe Funnel (Classics, 2014), Miranda Rogers (Medicine, 2014), Janessa Stackhouse (Mathematics, 2014), former Access and Admissions Officer Louise O’Rourke (Mathematics, 2014), Rosanna Greenwood (English, 2015), MTST scholar Isobel Hettrick (PPE,2015), Elizabeth McGowan (History and German, 2016), myself Nandana Syam (Medicine, 2016) and Thuba Mathetharan (Mathematics, 2016).
Students considering higher education will have the opportunity to hear a mixture of different perspectives from first, second and third year Somerville undergraduates who study a wide range of subjects and participate in a variety of extracurricular activities.
Over two days, we will have the opportunity to speak to around 100 students at each school – including Kingsley Academy and Isleworth & Syon School in Hounslow, and Raynes Park High School and The Coombe’s Girls school in Kingston – about our experiences at university and at Oxford specifically. The workshop will focus on the process of applying to Oxford, promote the advantages of Higher Education and work to dispel the stereotypes about Oxford. There will also be an opportunity for students to ask us questions in our interactive session. Our aim is to encourage and inspire students to realise their potential and to apply to university.
We are very grateful to the alumni and friends of Somerville who donated to our crowdfunding campaign last year. Your generosity not only funded last year’s roadshow but also this year’s! We cannot wait to get on the road and repeat the success of last year!