The Winners of Winfield

Winfield House is a London residence fitting for the Ambassador of the world’s last Super Power. The home of the US representative to the UK boasts the second largest private garden in London (after Buckingham Palace) and sits in a prime spot next to Regent’s Park.

It was also a very fitting place to celebrate the success of the‎ second cohort of students on the Sutton Trust’s US programme, run in partnership with the Fulbright Commission. Yesterday evening, over forty of the programme participants, their parents and guardians, joined programme staff, mentors, supporters and friends, as guests of Ambassador Barzun and his wife.

The wet weather held off for a few hours as we applauded ‎these exceptional young people who, after a year of intensive support and guidance – including a memorable week last summer at Yale and MIT – are heading off for four years of study in the US.

As we press release today, we have had some fantastic res‎ults from the second year of the initiative.  Sixty-one of the 150 students who began the programme will be starting their degrees at universities across the Atlantic this autumn including three at Harvard, three at Yale and five at Princeton. This is close to a three-fold increase on the success of last year’s pilot, which resulted in 21 students accepting places at US universities. The majority come from households with an income of less than £25,000 per annum and have secured an impressive £8 million ($14m) in financial aid from US universities and scholarship programmes.  This year’s Sutton Trust students will be enrolling at 37 different US colleges: over a quarter will be going to Ivy league universities and nearly a third will be attending one of the top ten US universities or liberal arts colleges.

There will surely be some mixed feelings in August as these students catch their flights, travelling a thousand miles across The Pond to begin their undergraduate degrees.   Most will be the first generation in their families to attend university, let alone a college in the USA.    They will miss home, their friends and family, and will have to compete in some of the most prestigious and selective seats of learning in the world.

But, as Ambassador Barzun said so eloquently last night, this is much more than just an academic pursuit.  The young people will learn about themselves, about America, and about the rest of the world.   They will emerge enriched, confident, with a great global network, and – we’re sure – highly employable in an increasingly international economy.  And most will come back to the UK, not just for holidays and internships, but at the end of their degrees for postgraduate study and to begin their careers.  The benefit of more UK students studying abroad is not just to the individuals, but to the country as a whole.

Everyone at the Sutton Trust is very proud of the young people’s achievements and grateful to everyone, particularly the Sutton Trust team at the Fulbright Commission, who have made the scheme such a success.  As the 175 students on this year’s programme prepare for their trip to the US this summer, they have an exceptionally high bar to meet – but time and again the talent and dedication of the young people we work with exceeds our expectations.