The deadlines have come and gone, now come the exams. Much of the past month has been spent studying for my final set of exams here at Imperial so there hasn't been much time to focus on other commitments. There are still some important updates you might be interested in...

🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 Good luck to everyone sitting exams!!! 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾

February is the shortest month but I always get caught off guard by how quickly it flies by... the final year project has kept me occupied in the labs thats probably why the month feels like it has disappeared. Other than lab work, things have been pretty busy on this side... 

Banner for the event held on the 10th of Feb 2018 © Decolonising Education

🗣️Project w/ UCL Institute of Education 🗣️

And on that note, I hope you are all surviving this cold snap and the sudden downpour of snow. 

Stay Warm!

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I hope you've all had a wonderful festive season and the best of luck with the year ahead. I hope 2018 to be an unforgettable and prosperous year for us all! 

It has been a relatively quiet month in terms of activities outside of uni with deadline season at its peak. Spending time with family and friends over the holiday season was a much welcomed break and with 2018 comes a fresh outlook..

🎓 The First Meeting with the Education Team 🎓

The Education Team @ LuL

The campaign grows from strength to strength and I am very excited for the year ahead as we have a lot of fresh new faces and ideas to take forward into 2018. As the core team has grown a lot this year, splitting off into smaller teams was a natural response.

The newly-formed Education team met for the first time and we set out our targets for the first half of the coming year. I'm most excited about establishing a networks with inner London schools to deliver workshops aimed at educating students as well as teachers about the current policies regarding access to student finance and potential barriers migrants might face in the process. 

The LuL team also met up this holiday for our Xmas Social which was lovely as the group got to bond outside of our fortnightly meetings, with Secret Santa gifts and various games keeping us entertained.

LuL Xmas Social

🍻🍴 ChemSoc Christmas Dinner (AGAIN!) 🍴🍻

It's become a bit of a tradition to be at the Chem Soc Xmas Dinner which is always hosted in a fancy hotel somewhere near Campus in last week of term. This year, 120 odd chemists were ushered into the Millenium Gloucester Hotel for the yearly festivities.

After kind words from senior staff members, three courses of food was served out before the dancefloor was crowded with eager chemists ready to shake a leg. I'd have to say this was by far the best Xmas Dinner; dancing didn't stop until the very last minutes of the night.

Our Christmas Dinner table © Chem Soc

🎇🎆🎇 BEST OF LUCK IN 2018 🎇🎆🎇

Synthesis labs from 9 AM till 6 PM, cold cycles to and from uni, battling the flu left and right and centre, you'd think this November was shaped to be a drab, predictable one but, to my surprise, it hasn't. Here's why...

🎭🥁 Samba Gigs 🥁🎭

🗣️ NUS Black Students' Winter Conference 🗣️

Representing LuL on the panel @ NUS Conference

A group discussion in the second part of the workshop facilitated by the amazing Jessica!

🤗 Migrant and Refugee Welcome Tour @ Foundling Museum 🤗

And on that note, I hope you all enjoy the festive times ahead and thanks for reading this month's entry!

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This month has been full of surprises to say the least, luckily they have't been of the spooky kind! Wouldn't want to speak too soon though. I've been surprised by just how much work is being done by the younger generation to bring about positive change. Let's start with...

🌍 WMHD @ City Hall 🌍

From spoken word artists sharing their artistic pieces to an author sharing her battle with anorexia, we were reminded of the importance of discussing mental health in a safe space and being a champion for those who might be suffering at any point in time.

The biggest surprise of the night was when students from Hendon School came up and spoke about all the campaigning they have been involved in, ever since their principal committed suicide. Their drive to raise awareness and support others was truly awe-inspiring. They have won numerous awards for their efforts and even have an app out there to provide support for those who seek it.

Pupils from Hendon School displaying their mental health charter in 2016 © Jenny Desborough

🎼 🎻 Chineke! Foundation 🎻🎼
Out of all the BlackHistory Month events across London, the one that left the biggest impact on me was hearing the story Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE and  how she overcame the barriers she has been presented with in her life.

Chi-chi Nwanoku OBE Image by Eric Richmond

Chi-chi was unfortunate enough to receive a career-ending injury which put her athletics career to a halt and at the age of 18, she took up the double bass and avidly pursued a career in music. The rest, as they say is history, Chi-chi has won numerous awards and international recognition for her musicianship.

Chi-chi has witnessed first hand that she is always one of the very few if not the only BAME musicians in the orchestras that she's played in. She set up Chineke! Foundation, a BAME majority orchestra, to address this issue head on! Find out more below...

🌊 LUL Away Weekend @ Brighton 🌊

© Sharon Evi Akaka

The Let Us Learn campaign is growing from strength to strength, with a whole host of new members joining the core group and a few long-standing members leaving us to study at their respective universities, we have come to a very critical point.

The majority of our time in Brighton was spent reflecting on how far we have come as a group which was a big shock for me. I realised how much we had accomplished in the little time that we have been up and running. It was also a reminder what we stood for as a group and what our aims for the future were.

There has been a major restructuring in how we will be moving forward as an organisation and expanding our remit is one of those. I cant tell you too much though but I can tell you that I will be the leader of the "Education Team" overseeing, organising and building a network or primary and secondary schools along with universities with the aim of raising awareness and educating our network on migrant issues.

© Emmanuel Opoku

I almost forgot...

🎃🎃🎃 HAPPY HALLOWEEN 🎃🎃🎃

After what was perhaps the hardest set of exams I've had to sit in my entire life, I'm glad to let you all know that I made it into my final year of my BSc Chemistry course at Imperial with a 2:1 overall! Exciting stuff right? It's also been a very busy summer...

Myself and the rest of the core seasonal staff team for Hounslow Wave 5

I was fortunate enough to have worked for 2 months in the summer as a Programme Leader and a Senior mentor for The NCS Challenge after really enjoying working as a music practitioner last summer.

Read more about that here: http://bloggingmywaythroughuni.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/what-summer.html

This time around, I had more responsibility in the sense that I was in charge of the wellbeing of and logistical management of six core staff members and about 60 Year 11 Leavers. My leadership and communication skills were constantly being tested. It wasn't easy, at all! The majority of the role was residential meaning it was very intense and demanding.

The working day started as soon as I woke up early in the AM right till I dropped to sleep to sleep, mostly in the AM too! Being part of and witnessing the positive impact the programme had on the young people made it all worthwhile though.

🤔 Business as usual at LuL? 🤔
As my summer was quite busy, I found myself having less and less time for the Let Us Learn campaign over the past couple of months but upon my return I was glad to see how much work the campaign had managed to accomplish.
As some of you may know, the fight is not yet over and young migrants all across the UK are having a tough time accessing student finance and pursuing their dreams through higher education. Once again, we have managed to work very hard to secure scholarships for a select few.

We have also  decided to set our sights at tackling the issue with processing times for applications at the Home Office which take AAAAAAAAAGES! That will be alongside our main efforts to open up access to student finance and that has been titled "Chasing Status", cool title right?

Super-selfie from one of our monthly gatherings at the LuL HQ!

🌇 Back at Woodward 🌇

I've also reprised my role as a Hall Senior back at our halls of residence which has been a lot of fun already. Working with other students to ensure that the new cohort of freshers have a nice experience during their time here at Woodward Buildings was a lot of fun last year and I look forward to carrying on this year!

Organising events, ushering freshers to and from uni in the first few days and helping them move into halls has been the bulk of my duties so far as a hall senior and I'm really looking forward to the events we'll be holding over the coming year, I'll be sure to keep you guys updated!

A poster I made for one of the events coming up during Freshers' Fortnight

I hope you are all had a good summer (or whatever little sun we got these past couple of months) and it's nice to be back blogging again. Really looking forward to my final year, especially the major project this year which will be mainly based in the labs.

👋👋👋

P.S. Keep yourself educated this Black History Month!

🎳 Bowling 🎳

Most university courses would be done by this time of the year but not us! Us chemist's here at Imperial had an extra third term of lectures before our final exam. It was a welcomed break when we all decided to enjoy an evening of bowling to start the term off before it all got hectic. 
It was nice to see everyone again after the long Easter holiday and to spend some time getting to know my fellow chemists outside of the normal schedule at uni. Even managed to get a couple of decent strikes during the game.

🎉 Just for Kids Law - 10th Anniversary 🎉
As some of you may know, the Let Us Learn campaign which I actively work with are under an organisation called Just For Kids Law. Their 10th year of representing minors in legal battles was celebrated this month and it was a special affair. 

👇 Check out the video below to see all the amazing work they have done over the past decade 👇

Highly esteemed guests from organisations such as the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, Simpson Millar Solicitors and many more. The event was held near King's Cross and we had the pleasure of being entertained by the amazing singing duo of Lizzie and Agnes (fellow Let Us Learn campaigners) after testimonials and speeches from the founders of Just For Kids Law, Shauneen Lambe and Aika Stephenson.

Back with NCS Challenge

Unfortunately I didn't make it past the final interview stages for the Crick-Cavella Summer Programme which I would have been a brilliant experience over the summer months. I have however been fortunate enough to be accepted back onto the NCS Challenge.

My role as a music practitioner last summer was very rewarding and taught me a lot about myself. This time round, I will be a senior mentor, responsible for overseeing the journey of a group of Year 11 Leavers over the 3 week course of the programme and will most likely be working with a couple of cohorts. Looking forward to the challenge, no pun intended!

I hope you are all enjoying the amazing weather that we have been blessed with lately (Perfect BBQ weather!). Wishing good luck to those who still have exams and I hope you all enjoy your summer and holidays if you're lucky enough to have them!

👋👋👋

UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!

P.S. Make sure you vote 👍

So I turned 22 over the Easter break! Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes. It has been a relatively quiet month with the exam season fast approaching and the last term of university poking around the corner. However, this month has had its perks...

📢 Progress w/ Scholarship Campaign 📢

As well as branching out to tackle the broader issues faced by migrants in the UK, the Let Us Learn Campaign is making great progress with our main mission which is making access to higher education an equal opportunity to all young people in the country.

We have made great progress in terms on getting London universities on board by opening up new scholarship schemes as UCL already have. Recently, a meeting was held with the student union here at Imperial College London who seem keen to take things forward. Nottingham Trent, Leeds, Northampton, Sheffield Hallam and Huddersfield have also been contacted as we look to spread out influence outside of London.

🔬 The Crick Institute 🔬

 The Crick Institute is a hub for biomedical research made up of researchers from UCL, Imperial and the Medical Research Council. I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the 36 interviewees out of around 400 applicants for a summer placement at the Crick Institute. Unfortunately, I didn't make it past the final interviews that day but it was an insightful opportunity, it was also an honour to interact with the researchers there for the day. 

Most of the month has been spent with family and friends as well as revising for the exam season ahead. I hope you are all enjoying the bank holiday and best of luck to all those with exams coming up in the following months!

P.S. My TEDxEastEnd Talk has uploaded on youtube now. Enjoy!