BME Conference to welcome 50 students

Trinity’s BME Student Conference on 24 February will give 50 Year 12 students from BME (black and minority ethnic) backgrounds inspiring insights into College life, information on the admissions process, and the opportunity to take part in a supervision, a key component of the learning experience at Cambridge.

The high-achieving sixth-formers, representing eight state schools, will get quiz the College’s Admissions Tutor, Teaching Fellows and current BME students at Trinity.

Trinity’s Incoming Admissions Tutor, Dr Glen Rangwala, said the popularity of the event underlined how important it was to reach out to potential applicants from all backgrounds and provide tailored advice and encouragement. He said:

There are high achieving students in all communities across the UK who want to know more about what College life is really like, the nature of teaching at Cambridge and of course the admissions process.

Our BME Student Conference seeks to respond to that interest and encourage more students to apply. Our community is much more diverse than many people realise and we are committed to widening participation.

Trinity’s BME Student Conference was founded in 2016 by then student Sarah Lusack, who is returning to speak about raising aspirations at this year’s event in her role as Campus and Pre-University Co-ordinator at Rare, a diversity recruitment agency.

Students who attended the 2016 event found it very useful. Ashleigh Samuels, a student from the London Academy of Excellence, said:

The highlight of the day was the Q&A session with the BME students at Cambridge, as it gave me an insight into what it is like for a person of colour to live and learn at Cambridge. I would recommend the BME conference to future year 12s as it was a great experience!

Lucy Verni, Assistant Head Teacher at La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School, said the event had been very well thought out.

One of our students said that she had been to Oxford and Cambridge before but this was the first time on a course that she had felt that applying was a ‘realistic opportunity’ and she was very grateful to have met Tutors and Professors in particular.

The 2017 event has been organised by Richelle George, BME Officer of Trinity College Students’ Union, 2016-17, and Trinity’s Schools Liaison Officers, Terri-Leigh Riley and Caitlin de Jode.

Richelle said:

The event seeks to familiarise BME high school students with the Cambridge application process and life at Trinity in an open and welcoming way, in the hope that it will encourage applications and raise aspirations in general.