An exciting new project aimed at raising aspiration and achievement among
Afro-Caribbean teenage boys was launched at Imperial College in August adding to its summer school programme. The scheme aims to provide incentives to boys, often from failing schools, to pursue their
passion for science and to nurture talent in the community.
A group of 25 boys, aged 12 and 13, from London and the South East spent three action packed, intensive weeks at the College under the Generating Genius scheme, gaining
hands-on experience of science, engineering and medicine. This innovative scheme is supported by Imperial College, the charity, Generating Genius and Exscitec.
Over the next five years the group will return to Imperial and other institutions each summer to
build on their skills and, as they get older, receive help with preparing for university. Every year there will be a new intake and it is hoped the project will expand to become a nationwide initiative.
The boys are mentored by Imperial students and academics, including medicine undergraduate, Collins Ekere, who says: “The scheme is aimed at bright young boys who are ready to achieve. The programme exposes them to a variety of things that are maybe more advanced than they cover at school and they are already responding really well. It will be great to see how they grow over the next five years.”
The summer school was divided up into three strands,
Chemistry, Robotics and Engineering and Life Sciences. Activities included lectures and experiments. Each group of boys at the end of each week had to present their work to a panel made up of Imperial academics and high profile people from the funding bodies, the Learning Trust and the Sutton Trust. The panel decided on a winner for the best presentation at the end of each week.
“The boys loved the competitive element and responded well to being stretched,” explains
Dr Mark Richards who was the academic coordinator for the project and is an active member of Imperial as One at the College which raises the profile of equality issues and ensures equal representation.
In addition, the boys had to produce a research paper at the end of each week and fit in inspiration talks and leadership skills workshops in the evenings. If this wasn’t enough to tire the boys, the project also incorporated a trip to the Forest of Dean where they put into practice all they had learnt on
leadership skills and working as a team.
Feedback from the group was very positive and many of the boys commented that the skills they had learnt ranged from learning how to be themselves, to how to be a leader and how to show respect to others. One boy commented: “I have learnt more than I would learn in school in a whole year during this scheme.”
Dr Mark Richards explains the original concept behind the summer school: “Statistically at the age of 12, 60% of boys are achieving highly in science related subjects but this dramatically drops to around 20% by the time they reach GCSE level. Therefore the idea was to address this problem and
boost these teenagers passion for the subject which they originally had.”
The Local Education Authority helped the project organisers recruit the boys. As part of the selection process, the boys had to be interviewed and demonstrate their passion for science and engineering.
Professor Robert Sinden from the Life Sciences Faculty was an academic mentor during the summer school. He says: “It is unusual for a summer school to have academics involved but I got a huge amount out of the three weeks and it was great to watch the progress made by the group of boys.”
