Earlier this year, Cass Business School saw Cass students of 20 nationalities and 19 different degrees enter the Cass Student Essay Competition. Nine of them made it to the final.
Published Monday, 20th April, 2020 in University news
Running for the third time, the Competition aims to give international Cass students a voice and freedom to articulate where you come from, where you are going, and how challenges shapes your daily life in London. Ultimately, understanding and hearing your voice is the first step in creating a more empathetic and compassionate environment.
As Cass is a highly internationalised Business School at the heart of London, our learning environments are inherently multicultural, and meeting people is an integral part of how you as students are prepared for the business world.
We wanted to know how this multicultural environment changes you as a human being: what role it plays in your group work, how it frames your learning, your employment opportunities, and how it impacts your well-being, friendships and networks.
The Judging Panel this year included our Dean, Professor Paolo Volpin, Professor André Spicer (Professor of Organisational Behaviour) and Professor Bobby Bannerjee (Professor of Management) and Amy Ripley (Senior Communications Officer). We celebrated all finalists at our awards ceremony - which this year took place in an online format!
Since it’s first edition in 2018, we have grown and become part of the ongoing conversation about Cass and the people who constitute its daily life. We look forward to holding a fourth edition of the Cass Student Essay Competition in 2021, please look out for details next year on how to enter.
Take a look at our winners, runner - ups and finalists below, we hope they inspire you.
Antonia Maidl (winner)
I was certainly uncertain when I was walking
through London.
Nina Wanjala (second)
Wow all the way from Africa? But you speak English so well?
Marina Dritsa (third)
I got penalised for trying to be a leader.
Mariya Gilani (runner up)
I was faced with a new reality whereby I sat alone as the only ethnic minority in my accommodation.
Kelly Matos (runner up)
To stand out, to challenge, to excel, to fail and come back stronger.
Luyi Chen (Finalist)
I realized the meaning in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we ought to be but find out who we already are and become it.
Maria Camino Diaz (Finalist)
You learn to accept that your ideas are not the only ones that matter and that listening is a virtue.
Samin Galehdari (Finalist)
Worry always stopped her from moving forward and being herself.
Valeria Marrone (Finalist)
I don’t even recognise the girl I was when I first arrived to the UK.