Kent student, Glory Oluwaseun, is recognised for her contribution to citizenship, winning a Young Black Achievers Award from Medway African and Caribbean Association (MACA) nominated by Dr Barbara Adewumi.
Glory, who studies Liberal Arts (BA) at Kent’s School of Politics and International Relations, was awarded the accolade at MACA’s 15th annual Young Black Achievers Awards on Saturday 23 October. MACA is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an awareness of African and Caribbean Culture through arts, educational and social programmes in Kent and Medway.
Currently a Student Ambassador and Work Study Student Research Assistant in our Student Success team, Glory is passionate about increasing awareness of Black History and the opportunities for ethnic minorities in academia through outreach initiatives. In Student Success Glory has provided literature research on ethnic minority students and cultural societies, as well as learning research analysis skills as part of her research training on the Academic Excellence Scholarship longitudinal research project.
Upon joining the University, Glory led the Outreach Debating Programme, helping to develop resources and expand the programme to schools in Kent and Medway. She has also led on the Mentoring and University Insights Project for Year 12 Black students at Chatham Grammar School (her alma mater) and Brompton Academy. Based on this project she with other student ambassadors completed a pilot research study which they presented at the NEON Conference (National Education Opportunities Network).
Extending her research experience whilst working at Student Success, Glory has since designed and co-ordinated a Black British Culture project for Year 10 students at Chatham Grammar School to learn about Black British history, culture and heritage while also learning practical research skills. This will be a collaborative project with Kent professors and lecturers and supported by student ambassadors. Ancient Africa and Transatlantic slavery are on the project syllabus, as well as figures from the UK Civil Rights Movement and a contemporary look at Black Lives Matter.
The programme objective will allow students to create their own research proposal about a topic of interest that centres on Black British Culture and develop research interests in academia. Students will be encouraged to develop a question and be given creative freedom in what they produce, it could be a piece of art, a video, article or just a written piece. ‘This may be a pilot project, but my hope is that we expand and that it becomes UK wide to help teachers create syllabuses that are more diverse and inclusive.’