Who Cares? Scotland is sending Scots teenagers to Harvard

Ethan Mulhall, an aspiring young journalist, was approached by the MCR Pathways coordinator - a volunteer mentoring service - in his school and asked if he would like to apply.

"I said 'yeah, obviously, that would be brilliant'," Ethan, from Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, said.

The scheme is co-ordinated by the charity Who Cares? Scotland, which has sent 26 care experienced young people to the Boston university since 2010.

The teenager found the application process "lengthy and stressful" but worth pursuing. 

Young people were asked to make an application video explaining why they wanted to take part and then there was a panel interview.

Ethan added: "I've always wanted to travel to America. The experience is going to be crazy, the status of Harvard and the whole vibe of it.

"I do enjoy talking to people so I was in my element. I can talk for Scotland if people let me. I thought that once people could see me they would see I was up for it."

Ethan plans to take courses in public speaking and politics to help him prepare for next year when he is going to start his degree at the University of Glasgow in politics and Spanish. 

He said: "Two months is longest I've been away from home so it's a big step up. I do think I'll enjoy it and hopefully the work will distract me from my homesickness.

"It will be a baptism of fire to become independent and self-sufficient ahead of uni but I'm going to make connections and friends for life."

Politics is the 17-year-old's great passion thanks to his aunt, who he has lived with since he was little.

He said: "There are photos of me at independence rallies in 2014.

"My auntie and two cousins who I lived with got me into politics. She didn't force her opinion on me but she made it clear there was a world out there for me to explore and let me form my own opinion, but I think she's happy with the opinion I formed."

READ MORE: Inside story of the changes to children's hearings in Scotland

He hopes the Harvard experience more broadly will help cut stigma that care experienced young people still face.

Ethan added: "I have been quite lucky to not have a really horrible experience. 

"I found a really loving, strong, supportive family who I fit in really well with and I am really lucky to have that. But there's a lot of people who don't have that and it's tough."

Shantelle Bambrick, from Carluke, is going to study neuroscience next year at the University of Glasgow and hopes the Harvard summer school will help her overcome her shyness.

Young people are immersed into campus life and social activities. They will share a dorm room with another Summer School student, have their meals provided for them in the Harvard dining room halls and be able to attend social and sporting activities.

The 17-year-old's foster carer encouraged her to apply for the scheme and now she's "excited to move out and get to university and meet diverse range of people." 

She said: "Why my foster carer first told me about it I said, 'Are you sure it's Harvard?' I didn't think it could be real.

"I cannot stress that enough, how important things like this are to care experienced young people. 

"If you look at how care experienced people are portrayed, like a stereotype, they don't have direction or drive - which is not true.

"Something like this could really dictate what they might do next, it's so invaluable.

"Care experienced young people might move placements all the time and so education doesn't come first. 

"It didn't come first for me for a long time because I was so stressed but something like shows that people actually care about how they do."

Ethan and Shantelle will be joined at Harvard by Natasha Noon, at 16 the youngest of the group going to Boston.

Natasha, from Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, lives with her foster mum who has been supportive of her plans - although Natasha said she "never though I would be accepted".

The teenager said she's a terrible procrastinator but the target of a once-in-a-lifetime experience of heading to Harvard help keen her on deadline.

She said: "In my personal statement I wrote about what it was like going in to care and how I felt excluded and different from everyone else. 

"I felt like that already because of what was going on at home but when I went into care that was amplified. 

READ MORE: Staffing squeeze in Scotland's school 'will affect pupils'

"I just had a feeling that everyone was better than me and not necessarily that they had a better life but that they had better opportunities than me and be able to fulfil them.

"I spoke about that and related that to the Harvard project and how it would give not just me but anyone else in care an advantage when people like me feel disadvantaged.

"We feel less privileged, not in a material way, but in every way."

Natasha has ambitions to become an entrepreneur and be her own boss, a feeling she says is vital after the lack of control she feels about her early life experiences.

She, too, is determined to fight the stigma attached to being a young person with care experience.

She said: "Being a care experienced young person comes with the stigma of people thinking you won't get a job, you'll end up homeless, you're going to end up on benefits. 

"People expect these things. But there's a lot of people in care who do well and you can't brand them with the same brush. 

"When I got put in care it took a real mental toll on me. 

"At first, for weeks, it had no effect on my but I think I was just numb and then it did take a toll on me. There was times that I could have gone down a different path. But it took my self drive and my own morals not to.

"I don't want to be a copy paste of my mum and dad, I want to be my own person. People in care need to know there are opportunities for them that other people don't have - they need to know there are special opportunities for them."