African-Caribbean Society offer-holders’ day

More than 50 offer holders came to Trinity recently in a visit to Cambridge organised by Cambridge University African-Caribbean Society (ACS).

The students participated in subject sessions, had lunch in Nevile’s Court and joined existing students on tours of Trinity, Jesus and St John’s.

ACS organisers Esther Anthony-Ajileye and Ayomide Akande said the aim of the event was to enable students to enjoy a relaxed visit to Cambridge, meet their peers and learn more about their chosen course.

Trinity offer holders heard from Admissions Tutor Dr Glen Rangwala about studying at Cambridge and College life.

Trinity Schools Liaison Officer Lizzie Bowes said the high turnout before A-levels began was testimony to students’ interest in finding out more about Cambridge.

It’s so important for students to be able to envision themselves in what will be their homes for the next three years – or more, and I’m so glad Trinity was able to offer these offer holders that opportunity!

As a black alumna of the university I know just how transformative the communities created by the ACS and other student societies can be, so it’s amazing to see students laying the foundation for that and carving out spaces of solidarity and joy prior to starting their undergraduate journeys.

Tia-Renee Mullings has an offer to study History & Politics at Gonville and Caius. She said it had been reassuring to come to Cambridge and ‘see faces that look like me.’

While many students such as Tia-Renee came to Cambridge from London, others came from further afield, including Trinity offer holders Tejan Kamara, from Luton, who plans to study Engineering, and Keziah Prescod, from Birmingham, who plans to study Modern and Medieval Languages.

Tejan chose Trinity in part due to the funding available and because of a second test at interview that he said gave students the chance to demonstrate their thinking.

Keziah participated in Trinity’s Year 12 mentoring programme and said the experience was a key reason she applied to the College. During her return to Cambridge on Saturday Keziah met up again with final year languages student Tom McGachie who is an access volunteer at Trinity, and had engaged with Keziah over the year-long programme as her personal mentor.

‘The programme provided so much support to me both academically and with any issues that I had,’ Keziah said. ‘Through this programme I could see the College was trying to embrace other types of people.’

All photos are by Graham CopeKoga.