2020 Beneficiaries
An artist, photographer and now intervention worker with the substance misuse charity Change Grow Live, Naheeda Begum BA was accepted on to a two-year MA in Social Work at the University of Birmingham. In care at the age of 16, Naheeda studied Fine Art at Coventry University.
Naheeda's art explores the identity issues faced by Muslim women, and she continues to work as a wedding photographer and painter. With Change Grow Live, she encourages motivation among care-leavers, and EBSF awarded her a postgraduate bursary.
In foster care and children’s homes since he was 11, Muhammad Abdullah BSc has always been passionate about sport and aims to teach physical education in secondary school. Mo studied at University of Worcester where he gained a BSc with honours in Sports Coaching Sciences and Physical Education. While at Worcester, he co-founded the Worcester Futsal Club (a five-a-side, indoor version of the game, founded in Brazil) which now plays in the top national Futsal league.
He won a place to study for a Postgraduate PGCE in Secondary Physical Education, again at Worcester, and EBSF granted him a postgraduate bursary.
Anh Tuan Do BSc came with his family from Vietnam to Britain in 2009, and had to go into foster care in 2012. He studied engineering at Aston University – where he was Vice-President of the student Vietnamese Society, and gained a first. He planned to undertake an MSc in Engineering Management, again at Aston.
Anh was ineligible for a student loan because of his immigration status, but the Birmingham Children’s Trust agreed to pay his fees. To provide other support through his studies, EBSF granted him a postgraduate bursary.
Having won a high 2:1 degree in Economics at Manchester, Summayah Hamadou BSc won a place to study for a masters’ degree in Financial Economics at the same university.
In foster care from the age of five, Summayah was one of 100 students selected for internships with accountancy firm Grant Thornton (from an application list of over 100,000). On top of her studies, Summayah played for the University’s football team, winning promotion and touring to Croatia and Italy (in a trip which she organised). She also coached young players in the community.
Summayah intended that her MSc will equip for a career in private equity or corporate finance; EBSF has awarded her a bursary.
In foster care since the age of three, Rennae Smith BA did a degree in Social Policy at London Metropolitan University. Needing to upgrade her undergraduate degree, she decided to undertake two courses at the Open University. This would make her eligible to apply to do her masters at Birmingham City University. The Eve Brook Scholarship Fund supported her by paying her OU fees.
Although she was attracted to a theatre career as a teenager, Rennae decided to pursue a career in social work because of her own time in care. Her stage school did however introduce her to competitive cheerleading, which she continued while at London Metropolitan – her team coming third in the national Varsity cheerleading competition twice in three years.