Education: A Case Study
Dr Lizzi Rawlinson-Mills, Fellow in English and Director of Studies for Education
June 2025 marked the graduation of Robinson’s first cohort of Pegasus Scholars who have achieved great success across a wide range of subjects including Law, Human Social Political Sciences, English, History and Education. Among those to flourish under the Pegasus Scholars Programme, has been Wahida Seisay (Education, 2022), Dr Lizzi Rawlinson-Mills, Fellow in English and Director of Studies for Education tells us more…
I was elected to the Fellowship in February 2020, but what with the pandemic and a baby arriving in July of that year, I didn’t get my official Admission of Fellows ceremony and celebration until a year later. That meant that when we interviewed Wahida Seisay in 2021, I still felt quite new to Robinson, and very fresh in the role as Education DoS. Wahida’s time at Cambridge has been an education for both of us.
Education is a broad field, and the Tripos offers amazing flexibility for students to find their own areas of interest and specialism. They are introduced to the disciplines of sociology, psychology, arts and creativities; they engage with the history and philosophy of education and its diverse contexts and frameworks, with local and global policies and policy-making, and with broader socio-political questions of social justice, international development, and peace.
It was clear from the outset what kind of path Wahida would pick for herself through this terrain. At interview, while she talked knowledgably about her A level subjects – Economics, Religious Studies, and English Literature – she really came to life when describing her experiences with Theatre Peckham and her passion for the empowerment of young Black creatives in, and through, the arts, talking eloquently about a right of access to culture for everybody.
Wahida was in the first cohort of Pegasus Scholars, Robinson’s programme designed to support those from less advantaged backgrounds to make a strong start to their time at Cambridge. As Wahida has told me, starting at Cambridge can be daunting both academically and socially, and Pegasus ensured that she didn’t feel completely in the dark when the year officially began, as well as providing a solid group of college friends.
She certainly hit the ground running, although I’m not sure Pegasus can take the credit for that. Michaelmas 2022 had hardly started when Wahida got her first huge theatre gig, being selected to direct the ADC Freshers’ Play 2022 (Blue Stockings, by Jessica Swale). Wahida told me that this was a “transformative” experience – her first experience of directing anything at such a large scale, and the start of her Cambridge Theatre journey. That journey continued throughout Wahida’s undergraduate career, with further high-profile directing roles including the Marlowe Players’ BME Shakespeare in 2022 (Twelfth Night) and 2023 (Anthony and Cleopatra). These productions reflect Wahida’s commitment to making spaces for Black creatives in theatre. She speaks insightfully about why representation is so difficult to achieve, including stigmas about access, sustainability and security which create anxiety among some households, on top of a lack of resources. Wahida has made it her personal mission to help dispel these stigmas, seeking to “infiltrate spaces not only physically but also with our stories and experiences once we are amongst these spaces”. Part of her answer to this has been to hone her craft as a playwright during her time at Cambridge.
Wahida’s theatre work has not all been “extra-curricular”; the Tripos has long been a place where theatre and the arts are practised and interrogated. In her second year, Wahida selected the Theatre, Text and Production paper, which demands an original play as part of the coursework. This gave Wahida an academic deadline (and the support of a supervisor) to do work that she wanted to do anyway. In her third year, she was once again able to select a paper which allowed her to reflect critically on her own experiences, analysing the micro industry that is Cambridge Theatre for her Performance, Education and Society paper in light of research.
Wahida brings her personal experiences together with an academic understanding of the barriers faced by people of colour in UK arts spaces. In response, Wahida has created @HerWorld.UK, an online networking space for Black female creatives in the UK, inspiring others with her example of seizing opportunities, building networks, applying for funding and other support, and persevering when faced with setbacks. She is now pursuing an internship at an Arts agency, following the staging of her play, Symptom of Life, at The Cockpit Theatre as part of The Camden Fringe 2025.
What have I learned from Wahida? In her words: “be committed to something. Be too busy, with the things that interest you.” Many stressed-out students tell me they’re too overloaded to enjoy their studies, and too busy with work to take on anything additional. Wahida’s experience has been that being committed to an extra-curricular you care about gives you a structure, as well as some perspective.