In which year group did you join Rokeby?
Reception
In which year did you leave Rokeby?
2020, in Year 8 (King’s Scholarship to Eton)
Which senior school are you attending?
Eton, where I am a House Captain and Academic Prefect. I secured 11 grade 9s at GCSE and am consistently in the top 5% of the cohort.
What have you been doing since leaving Rokeby?
I represented the UK at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and, out of 10,000 entries, my friend and I won. We submitted a paper, An integrated framework for the detection and filtration of perfluoroalkyl substances from surface water in the Thames Basin, focusing on removing PFAs—carcinogenic chemicals—from the Thames water supply. In winning the prize, I had the privilege of speaking with the Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, attending a week-long all-expenses paid trip to Stockholm. There, as well as making many new friends from more than 30 countries, I attended a royal banquet in the hall where the Nobel Prize dinner is hosted. There was a $15,000 cash prize and trophy as well!
I won the UK Teen Technology and Engineering Prize with another project I worked on, a medical device for predicting back posture. I have spent two summers at UCL completing a biomedical engineering research internship, building computational simulations for endoscopic surgery and sonographic procedures.
I am also the European Runner-Up in the International History Bee, and last summer, pursued research into Chinese history at SOAS. My work has culminated in an in-progress research paper on the decline of the Tang Dynasty, where I’ve helped translate primary sources from Medieval Chinese literature. I came runner-up in the National Libra Essay competition with a 4,000-word essay on the religious interplay between the Zhuang minority in Southern China and the CCP.
What is your fondest memory of your time at Rokeby?
Winning the Athenaeum for Bazalgette; I realised the power of language and logic as a tool, and developing confidence as a public speaker then, undoubtedly influenced my ability to convince others now.
How did your teachers or friends at Rokeby inspire or influence you during those years?
Three teachers stood out to me in particular as role models:
Mrs Huxley facilitated my love for seeking knowledge in the library, while nurturing my interest in classical music when I was given the DJ controls at lunch!
Mr Attenborough helped me nurture my interest in history research—self-learning through initiative, not just taught in classes— and encouraged me to build my history trivia knowledge base.
Miss Mason taught me how to structure arguments, through Athenaeum or English essays, enough to secure me a top grade in Eton’s King’s Scholarship examination and more recent pursuits.
One piece of advice to younger boys
You have time.
Unless you’ve planned out your day, minute by minute with no free slots, you can explore disciplines outside the classroom.
Go out and research what genuinely excites you, academic or not, and be willing to forgo mindless scrolling in pursuit of excellence, so that you leave school the best version of who you can be.