‘If you put your mind to it you can achieve your dream’ - East Yorkshire student appearing on University Challenge inspires pupils at her old school
Watching University Challenge on BBC2 with her mum helped them both through lockdown.
Now, Jess Mellor, of Market Weighton, is about to appear on her favourite quiz show, much to her mother Caroline’s delight. Jess, 21, is currently studying for her Scottish Masters Degree in History at the University of Edinburgh.
She will be representing the university on the show next Monday evening, October 28, against a team from Leeds. Jess said: “I always envisaged that ‘Edinburgh, Mellor’ [voiceover] and now it’s actually happened.”
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Jess was unable to give any details about the show, or how her team fares, after filming took place earlier this year. Her university’s quiz society organised the application and Jess thought she would “give it a go”.
“I really enjoy the show, it’s that classic Monday night quiz, and I thought, I’m going to go for it and see how it goes. All I can say about it is everything is still quite topical.
“It’s about having the confidence to answer quickly enough while not risking a penalty for interrupting.” Jess has just been home on a semester one break from studies in her final year at Edinburgh, enjoying being back in East Yorkshire – “it’s always nice to come home, I do miss it” – and taking the opportunity to pop into her old school in Market Weighton.
“The head teacher is the same as when I left and he greeted me at reception and a few more teachers saw me, including my old form tutor who was my history teacher. I got inspired to do history because I enjoyed those classes.”
Jess said: “I’m hoping to be an inspiration to other young people. I want to be a good example of what you can achieve.
“You do encounter challenges in your life but if you have a dream, and you put your mind to it, you can achieve it. It feels so brilliant when you get to that point.”
Jess continued: “I felt I was actually quite naïve in not realising how many people from my kind of background don’t go to university.” She always loved learning and reckons she was 14 when she set her sights on university.
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However, she said she always felt in her later school years like she was “trying to fit in”. “I’d always be actively thinking of what I could say to fit in and not come across as weird to people.
“I did have free school dinners and although you don’t really pay attention to things like that when you are a little kid, it was just like a little highlight of the extra challenges you have got. When I was in Year 7 I remember I managed to get a pass to go home for lunch - I was very socially anxious at that point – and it was about trying to explain that away to people.
“I managed to stay in school for lunch after that. It was hard for me to establish friendships; I always knew I was quite different.”
Jess has been pursuing an autism/ADHD diagnosis and receives support from her university. She said: “As I have got older I’ve started to let go of that fixation on coming off as ‘normal’ and now it’s about just being me.”
Jess hopes to go on to study digital heritage at the University of York after Edinburgh. She said: “Mum’s support has been unbelievable through anything and everything. She’s been a massive inspiration to get through things as well.”