Callum Stevens was disheartened by naysayers at college however is now trying ahead to the day his mum Maria will see him graduate (Image: Zero Gravity/Callum Stevens)
As a teen, Callum Stevens was informed folks from his background had no probability of creating it to Cambridge.
Coming from a single-parent household in Bolton, Larger Manchester, the percentages have been stacked towards the aspiring lawyer attending college, not to mention some of the prestigious on the planet.
His mum, Maria, gave delivery to him when she was 16 and his nan was an enormous affect in his life as he grew up. Neither had attended college.
Callum, nonetheless, is refusing to let his life be dominated by a postcode.
‘I’d by no means change the place I come from,’ he mentioned.
‘There’s a true camaraderie available and I completely imagine that such an upbringing will educate you issues that formal training by no means will.
‘That being mentioned, provided that the realm is much less prosperous than others, it has problems with crime at what I’d recommend is a disproportionate degree to the common.
‘The first barrier that my place of upbringing put earlier than me was mindset. It’s all too straightforward to simply accept the system’s failings and imagine that your life is predetermined by your postcode.’
Callum Stevens has been adjusting to life at Cambridge the place he has joined Christ’s School (Image: Zero Gravity/Callum Stevens)
Callum, now 20, discovered the low degree of aspiration was compounded by a scarcity of sources to assist him apply to an elite college.
Round 50% of scholars at his state college have been eligible without cost college meals and solely 30% achieved a Grade 5 or above in English or Maths.
‘Once I was at college it was typically mentioned that “folks such as you don’t go to locations like Cambridge”, so I made a decision to use as a joke at first,’ Callum mentioned.
‘The feedback weren’t solely disheartening however tough to beat as they didn’t come from a spot of animosity, however misinformation.
‘I discover it a lot simpler to recover from negativity when it’s clearly rooted in spite or some ulterior motive, however they stemmed solely from a lack of know-how.’
A piece expertise placement with a legislation agency in 12 months 10 led to the star pupil setting his coronary heart on the authorized career.
His grades began turning the ‘joke’ into actuality as he moved to Holy Cross School in Bury with a brand new assist community and enter from the Zero Gravity social mobility tech firm. The free platform is designed to assist younger folks from ‘unorthodox’ backgrounds to grasp their potential. The corporate was began by Joe Seddon, who grew up in a single-parent household and went to state college earlier than attending Oxford.
Callum sealed his place at 500-year-old Christ’s School with A*s in Regulation, English Literature and Arithmetic. He’s following within the footsteps of faculty alumni together with historian Simon Schama, the previous Archbishop Rowan Williams and comic Sasha Baron Cohen. Callum rowed for Christ’s in his first yr as he bedded into life with the group.
‘I by no means genuinely believed that I’d get in so I had made many preparations to attend different universities,’ he mentioned. ‘I didn’t see Cambridge as a critical possibility on my listing of selections.
‘Secretly although, I used to be obsessed. As a result of the first hurdle was mindset, I needed to work on altering the opinions of others in addition to myself. It takes a village to boost a toddler and a large assist community was very important for me.’
The sixth former was matched with a mentor, a current legislation graduate from Cambridge, by Zero Gravity. Annabelle helped him select the school and guided him by the appliance course of at weekly periods.
The platform’s charity arm, The Zero Gravity Fund, additionally gave the legislation scholar a £1,000-a-year scholarship during his course.
‘Getting to school is only one hurdle, funding it’s solely completely different,’ he mentioned. ‘This enables me to give attention to my research, attend prestigious internships and take advantage of out of college life.’
Callum with fellow Christ’s scholar Laura on the faculty’s Could Ball in 2022 (Image: Zero Gravity/Callum Stevens)
The second yr is now eyeing his commencement on the college’s august senate home, the place his mum will likely be watching on.
‘I’m anticipating an actual mixture of excited nervousness,’ he mentioned.
‘I’ve labored so arduous to get to the place I’m and commencement would be the finish of such an necessary chapter in my life.
‘With that, although, comes the excited anticipation of what’s subsequent and the start of a journey from authorized research to apply.
‘In any occasion, a spot like Cambridge is one thing that may all the time follow you, whether or not you plan it to or not.
‘It has opened me as much as so many alternatives which in any other case wouldn’t have been accessible. I hope that it doesn’t matter what I am going on to attain in life, I’ll make an energetic contribution to carry these alternatives to these from upbringings like mine.’
Callum grew up in Bolton the place he discovered an awesome sense of group spirit (Image: Zero Gravity/Callum Stevens)
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Originally posted 2023-04-15 05:46:42.