Editor’s Letter
When I initially had the idea for the education issue, I was determined to introduce fresh faces and amplify those voices, the ones that were rarely heard: the students.
I often think back to my own time in education. My first love was words. I had won a number of spelling competitions, raking up several trophies, medals, and certificates all before I was even 7 years old. When I really thought about it, trying my best to decipher those all-important early years, I realized I had taken a great liking to English not because I was academic, but because it allowed me to be creative. With just a few words, I could create a whole new world. What wasn't there to love?
As the issue came together, I also spent a lot of time thinking about the women outside of my mother, who had shaped my mind in one way or another before I was 16-years-old; Miss Boothe, who had first taught me English and continued to push and support me during my short, but pivotal years growing up in Jamaica. Then there was Sarah, the teaching assistant who taught me all about punctuation and grammar in year 4 after I’d just moved to the UK. I could still remember the day we were tasked to write a short story in class and she had read mine as though she was out of breath - an action that at the time, I had mistaken for fawning, and how she had playfully laughed explaining that I had used very little to no full stops or commas. And finally Miss Trapp, my secondary school teacher who made my time in secondary school a little more bearable amid all the other classes I didn't care for. I chuckled to myself remembering Year 11 GCSE classes and how she had committed to reading John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in her rendition of an American accent.
Words shaped minds, and it’s one of the reasons I remained excited about being at the helm of WOTC. Being able to create something new, all through some carefully thought out, life-changing words.
This month's issue is completely stripped back, we have no trends to follow, or lip glosses you need to purchase. Instead, meet 18-year-old Christina Adane, the influential young leader who challenged Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government when he made the decision to take away free school meals for 1.3 million school children across the nation, covers our October/November Education Issue. She has been recognised by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and was recently a recipient of the prestigious Diana Awards. Alongside her, 25-year-old Tamarakile Koroye-Crooks, human and civil rights scholar and fashion lover, whose academic background spans Spelman College to London School of Economics is showing young black girls everywhere that they can do it too.
Throughout the issue, you’ll meet some of the most brilliant minds in the UK, from University of Cambridge and King's College medical student Jessica O’Logbon, who chose not to give up after she didn’t receive a place at university on her desired course on her first try and instead took a gap year and to rethink her future and gain life-changing experiences to Oxford medical student Tolu Duckworth who talks about being state school educated and grabbing hold of all the opportunities presented to her.
Also in the issue, Beverley Martins, writer and final year Law student is open and honest about all the things they don't tell you before you started university and Mental Health Nurse Yetunde Bankole talks about mental health in children and why speaking about it is such a taboo. We also explore personal hygiene and why parents should be taking the time to have open and honest conversations with their children right through to whether physical education is actually necessary.
I hope this begins a much needed conversation.