Rhea’s hat-trick heralds great start to the academic year

30 September 2020

For one of our Year 10 students, September has brought not one…nor two…but three triumphs! From winning a Mensa competition, to recording a global podcast, to winning a scholarship to an academic programme at Cambridge this Summer, this has been a truly outstanding start to the academic year for Rhea!

On 11 September Rhea found out that she was one of only two winners of the Junior & Teen Mensa Six Word Story Competition. Entrants had had to tell their lockdown story in just six words – could you manage to do that? Rhea’s winning story and accompanying drawing means that she can now wear the famous Mensa hoodie with pride! Well done Rhea!

And as if that wasn’t enough in itself, Rhea was invited to record a podcast of the book she illustrated earlier this year – “When the Dinosaurs Stayed at Home” – for a Chicago-based organization called Your Children’s Bookshelf. The charity fosters a love for literacy by providing free children’s books and as well as broadcasting podcasts of some of the books they donate. The podcast is now live and is available on their website, as well as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, Spotify, Amazon, Ghana and Saavn (https://yourchildrensbookshelf.org/podcasts).

To top it all off, Rhea has just heard that an essay she submitted to a competition by Immerse Education, has won her a scholarship to their 2 week residential Medicine programme at Cambridge this summer.

“I came across an essay competition by Immerse Education, a company that runs some pretty impressive academic programmes over the summer at Cambridge.” says Rhea. “I submitted an essay, it had to be 500 words on a pre-defined topic for my chosen subject (Medicine). I just found out that I have received a 50% scholarship to attend their 2 week residential Medicine programme this summer. The syllabus looks outstanding!” says Rhea, “so it’s been a good start to the academic year, though the rest of 2020 has left much to be desired!”

What an incredible start to the year and we wish Rhea every success as she enjoys her Year 10 at Latymer Upper.