Meet Sarah Parnell, John Crook Scholar

Sarah Parnell, a current John Crook Scholar at St John’s, reveals how she made her way to Cambridge after a family crisis nearly dashed her hopes of studying at University at all, in a new video released today.

Sarah, 31, from South Oxhey in Watford, successfully applied for the John Crook Scholarship in 2013 to study Psychology at St John's College. In the video, she talks about her background, her experience of applying for the Scholarship, and what it is like to live and study at Cambridge.

Sarah applied for the John Crook Scholarship after a recommendation from her former tutor. The Scholarship is an annual award offered by the College. It gives people who are the first in their family to go to university the opportunity to study for a second degree at St John's.

Often the scholars are people who were inspired by their first course of study and wanted to delve further into a particular subject. The initiative gives them the chance to follow up this interest in another academic discipline by enabling them to study it at Cambridge.

The eldest of five children, Sarah originally had to leave her undergraduate studies at Greenwich University to help care for her mother and siblings following an accident. Later, she worked in a school for boys with emotional and behavioural difficulties before achieving a BA in Education Studies from the University of Hertfordshire.

The John Crook Scholarship was set up in 2010 in honour of Professor John Crook, a Fellow of St John's for over fifty years, who first came up to Cambridge with a scholarship himself, and came from a modest South London background. The Scholarship covers all the successful applicant's costs, including tuition fees, and also provides a substantial grant for living expenses for the duration of the degree.

More information on applying for the John Crook Scholarship can be found HERE.