University exhibition opens eyes to opportunity

The Opportunity: Captured? exhibition features 21 images which were among dozens submitted to the University as part of a project aimed at exploring what opportunity means to the different people the University engages with.

The exhibition’s aim is to raise awareness of NTU’s innovative work on social mobility. It was the first university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge and has been selected to co-run a national evidence centre to determine ‘what works’ in social mobility in higher education.

Entries selected for the exhibition include that of Carly-Emma White, an NTU student who sent in a picture of the prestigious Princeton University in New Jersey, which she had visited to deliver a paper on her PhD research.

Carly, from Clifton, said: “I had found out only a couple of weeks before that I was expecting baby number four, I had the most dreadful pregnancy sickness. However, it was the opportunity of a lifetime and there was no way I was not getting on that plane! I was sick just before giving my paper then went on stage and nailed it. The whole trip was surreal. I couldn't believe that a single mother of three from Nottingham had made it to Princeton to speak in front of academics from all over the world. I will never forget it.”

Other photographs explore overcoming anxiety through art and making life-long friendships through shared experiences at university or summer camps. Head teacher of Cotmanhay Junior School Simon Robinson sent in a photograph of three pupils on a trip who had discovered a ‘trove’ of discarded comics and were pictured eagerly leafing through them. Simon wrote in his submission. “Cotmanhay is an area of very high social deprivation Learning to read in this environment is an ongoing struggle.”