Cambridge competition win for Sara

The competition was part of Cambridge’s HE+ project which supports students from underrepresented backgrounds to develop their academic skills and encourage them to apply to the most selective universities. Sara, who is part of Blackpool Sixth’s Excellence Programme for high academic achievers, was keen to give the competition a go.

The competition involved carrying out a piece of individual academic research linked to the theme of ‘uncertainty’. Entrants were required to develop a mini-research project into an aspect of the theme which they were particularly passionate about, and then present their findings initially as an academic poster.

Sara, a former St Mary’s Catholic College student, chose the topic of the effect of US immigration policy on the housing market in cities and towns with large student populations such as Boston.  She had seen in the news that President Trump’s immigration policies included revoking over 6,000 student visas and this led her to wonder what the effect was on towns and cities with lots of students. The topic also fits in well with Sara’s plans to study economics at university.

Her poster impressed the competition judges so much that she was one of only 25 entrants invited to Cambridge to present her work. Her work and her presentation of it stood out so much that she was then chosen as the overall winner - a truly remarkable achievement given the very high standards of the academic work on show.

Sara commented, “Creating my poster taught me how to summarise complex, detailed information into a format that was both clear and engaging, and presenting it in Cambridge further pushed me to communicate my ideas succinctly and confidently, summarising weeks of research in focused 3–5 minute conversations. 

The discussions that followed were extremely valuable, often challenging, and critically evaluating my work, allowing me to deepen my understanding and come away with an experience that was genuinely transformative.”

Excellence Programme Co-ordinator, Peter Wright commented, “Seeing our students excel in a national competition at such a prestigious university is incredible and demonstrates that our Blackpool young people should have no limit to their aspirations. The Cambridge HE+ programme is part of the college’s Excellence Programme which provides students with a platform to make strong applications to elite universities and highly competitive apprenticeships.”