‘What is history's most significant invention?’ ‘Is stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family a crime?’ ‘Should all vaccines for all diseases be mandatory?’
These are just a selection of the interesting questions that some of our students at EP found themselves researching and debating in their entries for the prestigious Immerse Education Essay Competition in December. Our Assistant Head of Department for English, Caitlin Gray, tells us more in this week’s Secondary Blog.
The competition allows students aged 13-18 from around the world to showcase their subject knowledge, research skills and essay writing abilities in an effort to win a full or partial scholarship to a summer programme in Oxford, Cambridge or London, or an online academic summer school.
This month, students who entered the competition were informed of the outcome and we are pleased to announce that many KLASS students have been awarded scholarships - ranging from 10-50% discount for a summer programme - by Immerse Education. One successful student, Anya in Year 12, said: “It was a truly eye-opening experience to write an essay on the subject of Mathematics: having to research, formulate an argument and fabricate a piece of writing from scratch. Not to mention the thrill of getting a partial scholarship!”
In 2021, only 7% of total entrants to the competition were awarded a scholarship, so we are exceptionally proud of our students for taking on the challenge and achieving success! KLASS students chose a broad range of different subject specialisms, from Medicine, to Law, to Computer Science.
Gha Yuan in Year 12, explained: “Writing about engineering enabled me to portray my passion for the subject but also gave me the opportunity to explore the subject in-depth”.
Aaliya in Year 11 chose the Creative Writing question, stating: “It allowed me to comment on and analyse how books can influence us as people which changes societal development. I wrote about the story of Bluebeard to comment on modern day morals. It revealed my passion for writing about society.”
All the students successful in winning a scholarship commented on how much fun they had researching and writing about a topic of interest to them. Margaux in Year 13 said: “I used the competition as a way to discuss my passions, and to extend the way in which I understand the subject of History which I will be going on to study, by looking at lesser-known individuals.”
Below is a list of our successful students and their subject choices:
Aaliya - Creative Writing (Year 11)
Anna - Philosophy (Year 13)
Anya - Mathematics (Year 12)
Ashley - Biology (Year 12)
Caitlyn - Law (Year 8)
Daniel - International Relations (Year 10)
Destiny - Medicine (Year 7)
Gha Yuan - Engineering (Year 12)
Hailey - Computer Science (Year 9)
Khalilah - Law (Year 10)
Margaux - History (Year 13)
Ruhan - Law (Year 8)
Ruyin - Medicine (Year 9)
Saaransh - Engineering (Year 8)
Zhang Ning - Creative Writing (Year 10)
And do they have any advice for future competition participants? Destiny in Year 7 says: “Never give up and always try, even though you might not succeed.”
Congratulations once again to all our Immerse Education Essay Competition entrants and winners!
Maria Osowiecki
