Famous rapper Stormzy offered life-changing advice to young students of a Camberwell primary school last week for Black History Month and received high praise from the head teacher.
Sacred Heart Catholic School welcomed the Brit-award-winning artist on Monday, October 18, in a “surreal experience” for its students.
Stormzy, whose real name is Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr., conducted four talks and Q and As, allowing every student in the school to hear him speak, before signing books and taking photos.
Ava from Year 12 said: “Stormzy coming to school during Black History Month was a fabulous experience. Instead of learning about someone from a book we actually got to meet someone in person.
“He shared his struggles about being black within the music industry, and dealing with people’s preconceptions of how others viewed him compared to how he is. Expressing his ideology that we should always be “unapologetically ourselves” was inspirational.
“He spoke really well and really encouraged us all to follow our dreams and be dedicated in our studies.
While visiting Sacred Heart, Stormzy said: “Figure out what is going to make you happy. You want to enjoy your work. If you love Science, go down that route, if you love Law, go down that route. What it takes to be anything in life is hard work, discipline and diving into it.”
Big up on being in tune with God. Being in tune with God means something – it’s very important to me.”
If you’re someone who’s late to things you need to cut that out! I was often late for lessons at school and didn’t realise the impact this could have in my career. Being late for a key meeting can have serious consequences for your career.”
He added: “Year 11 is where the real champions of society are made. When it’s time to work, make sure you’re working. This is your time to be the best student you can be. Sacrifice the next few months to get the best GCSE results you can.”
“Your friends can be a hindrance to who you want to be. Your best friend needs to be someone who understands that school is where you need to learn. You can’t afford to get bad GCSEs because you’ve got one stupid friend.”
Serge Cefai, headteacher at Sacred heart, said: “We were very lucky to have the connections to facilitate Michael AKA Stormzy visiting our school.
“As a headteacher and teacher for 43 years there is no question that I was a little bit apprehensive about bringing a rapper into our school. I have little knowledge of music but I am fully aware of some of the less savoury vocabulary used in certain raps that our children love to listen to.
“However, Michael is a hugely impressive young man whose only aim in visiting our school was to try and encourage our children to do the right thing. By that I mean behave well, work hard and grow up to be able to contribute to society in a positive manner.
“My thanks to Michael for his time and I sincerely hope that other schools and pupils get a chance to listen to his truly inspirational words.”