Who better to design an outreach initiative to introduce black Year-12 students to Corpus than a student who herself attended an outreach event at Corpus? That's what happened last week, when second-year law student Kemi Akeredolu worked with the Admissions Team to build a residential programme that was attended by 28 very brilliant students from around the UK.

The aspiring students were able to immerse themselves into what academic, and non-academic, life is like at Cambridge University and Corpus. The students were nominated by teachers and their schools and the programme was open to all humanities, social sciences, and STEM students. During two event-filled days, the students attended an Academic Session given by Apeike Umolu on Pan-Africanish, a STEM session given by Corpus Fellow and chemist Chatura Goonesingle and current PhD student and Gates Scholar Ana Luisa Ferreira Granja, mock supervisions in several different subjects, and a student panel hosted by the Cambridge African Caribbean Society and the Haroon Ahmed Society. The Admissions team delivered a session and Q&A on super-curricular activities and how to make a strong Oxbridge application.

“Seeing so many talented young black people in Corpus reminded me of why I advocated for Corpus to run such a programme in the first place. Many students told me the residential had made them consider applying to Corpus. Some mentioned they had been on residentials before, but BB had been their favourite one. Overall, it seemed a great success and I hope for BB to continue in Corpus in the future! ” - Kemi Akeredolu

The visitors also got a taste of Cambridge life, with punting sessions, a Formal Hall, a walking tour of the city, games in the JCR, and a Keynote address by alumna Dr Shirley Bekker (m.2014), as well as spending time with current students.

We very much enjoyed having these bright and engaged young people in College and hope to repeat the programme in the future.