The Access Project works with a diverse group of students, volunteers, and colleagues to support disadvantaged young people to get to top universities. This February we are celebrating LGBT+ History Month by highlighting the experiences of our students who identify as LGBTQ+.
“My confidence throughout any area of my life has massively improved”
Evan is in Year 11 at one of our London schools, and is getting tutored in Maths. In the last year and a half on our programme, Evan has seen great improvement in his grades. “Initially I was aiming for maybe a 6 in Maths at GCSE level. I’m currently an 8 pushing at 9, which is a massive improvement.”
Evan’s tutorials have helped him be more confident. “My general confidence with Maths questions has skyrocketed. I will never be able to fully put into words how much my tutorials have helped. Knowing that I have at the very least a brief idea of what I’m doing is helping with my confidence in general. My tutor talks a lot about how, often if I am hesitant about an answer, I’m very much correct. My confidence throughout any area of my life has massively improved.”
“It is massively important to recognise past achievements and issues to understand how far we’ve come”
We asked Evan why he thinks it’s important to celebrate LGBT History Month. “If you know anything about any part of history you probably know something about queer history. You can take any timeframe and there will be LGBT history within that.”
Evan tells us firmly: “Knowledge is power. It truly is. Any form of understanding of where people have been and where they want to go, and knowing how different things were only a century ago. It is massively important to recognise past achievements and issues to understand how far we’ve come.”
For Evan, being openly queer is something that gets easier in time. “Every new day it gets a fraction easier. There’s a lot of annoying and bad people. But equally there’s a lot of good people and it’s just a matter of finding them.”
Evan sees an Art related degree in his future
When it comes to his plans for university, Evan wants to keep his options open. “I want to do something creative, but I don’t know what that means yet. I love art, poetry, and literature. I don’t want to narrow things down until I decide. That’s why I’m doing Maths. I think in many ways Maths, English and Art are very similar. And wanting to go into Art, I know Maths will always be useful.”