From care-leaver, to Cambridge, to The X Factor

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Brought up in foster care, Ashley John Baptiste is going places. At 22 he has a history degree from Cambridge under his belt. However, he has now turned his back on academia and is following his passion. Fresh from his live appearance on The X Factor with new band The Risk, Ashley talks to us about his time growing up in care, and what has driven him to succeed. He is passionate about music as self-expression and believes he can use success in this medium as an effective tool to influence young people and fire their aspirations.

When did you find out studying at Cambridge might be an option for you?

It was in the summer between my first and second year of A-levels. Even though I hadn't revised I got good GCSE grades and I was invited by the Sutton Trust to attend a summer school at Cambridge.

I realised that I thrive through education and the Cambridge environment would be really good for me. The application process was really tough. I did a lot of research, as I had a lot of catching-up to do. Once I had made up my mind that was what I wanted, I got really serious about it.

Did you always aim high? Was university an ambition throughout school?

Not at all. I nearly got kicked out of school. I was suspended eight times and I was on a final warning by the time I was 15. I was having fights, being rude to teachers and being a bit rebellious. I think it is really important that young people in care realise that they don't have to have a clean slate to do well. You need to grasp opportunities with both hands when they come. Social workers need to have more ambition for us too, and not be so quick to write us off.

One of the big things you lack growing up in care is discipline. If the adults around you don't give you discipline, you have no self-discipline. I had to learn that for myself later. At school I was angry and rebellious and I really wanted attention. I wanted to rebel against the whole world and I didn't know any other way of getting attention.

Were you aware that you were an exceptionally bright student?

I really didn't know how talented I was and the teachers didn't know it. A lot of kids are extremely rude and quick to reject authority and challenge authority. I wasn't behaving badly all the time. Writing always came easily to me. There were times when I would take work seriously, I would get work done really quickly then start to disrupt other people – out of boredom. I was looking for distraction, I didn't have a focus. With a lot of things you have to start enjoying something and get to know it. There were times when I would let myself enjoy the work and get into it.

I was really good at maths and at linguistic subjects. I don't remember any particular teacher noticing me, praising me or inspiring me – not until I was older anyway. I had a really good music teacher who helped me develop my passion. Kids growing up in a family have parents that are constantly interested in how their children are doing, wanting them to excel, asking the school how are they getting on. If you are in care there really isn't anyone that has a personal interest in you or will notice if you need an extra push, or praise you for doing well. You have to work it all out for yourself.

What were the important things you worked out that enabled you to make a transformation from disruptive teenager to Cambridge graduate?

By the age of 14 or 15 I noticed that you could get attention within good relationships so I concentrated more on that. I built some good friendships, realised that this was important in life. I still had a bad temper; it wasn't always about getting attention, it was just how I was feeling. I surprised my teachers by sailing through my GCSEs with five As and a couple of C grades. That bit of it never seemed insurmountable to me. I knew I could do the work; it was others who expected me to fail because I was not a 'good' student.

Would you describe Cambridge as a life-changing experience?

I came to the realisation that you are most powerful when you are being yourself, and that because most people conform they miss out on the essence of who they are, and what they can give the world. I have a faith in God which helps me see this. I have never felt yourself comes from other people. You are not determined by what people around you think.

In Cambridge you can only be yourself as a black kid if you conform. There were only four black kids in my year, a lot of other international students, but black students still make up just one per cent of the Cambridge population. Out of 20,000 students in my year I never came across any other children from care; I think there was one from Afghanistan.

Your local authority or 'corporate parent' must have been very proud that you went to Cambridge?

Not really. They weren't keen on me going at all. They thought it would be too expensive and I needed to keep on my flat in London as well as paying for student digs. If it wasn't for my MP, Simon Hughes fighting for me, I wouldn't have got the support I needed to go. I don't feel bitter about it at all. They are constrained by bureaucracy. They have to follow the rules. They made it harder for me to go, but I knew I was never going to settle for not going.

Do you think enough is being done to raise the aspirations of young care-leavers to aim for the top universities, or even to aim for a university education at all?

It's getting a lot better. I think social workers need a lot more training as they don't know enough about this area themselves, so how can they ignite the aspiration for the children they are responsible for? A lot of universities themselves now have outreach events and taster days to encourage children from care to explore university as an option. Like I say, it was a summer school that got me interested in going to Cambridge.

I organised a conference, 'B Inspired', as well, through the college. It brought together organisations and foster carers, people who are in a position to guide children in care and care-leavers and spark some kind of ambition in them. This was one of the activities that led to me being presented with a special award when I graduated, for the biggest contribution to college life. I did a lot of other work too to promote access to Cambridge. We invited children from state schools to come and visit. Before that they didn't realise they were allowed to come and study. I invited Jesse Jackson to speak at one of our events. I just got involved with everything that was going on. I wanted to get the most I could out of the opportunity I had been given and open that opportunity to others.

How do you think your experience at Cambridge has changed you as a person?

The changes are still occurring, but a big thing is learning to be who you are and not be inhibited as a black person, or as someone from an inner city area, or as a care-leaver. I accept that I am different and I have got to be myself. Learning to make friends on the basis of who you are is a big thing. A lot of people don't know that at university and they keep trying to be someone else to please everyone else. You don't make real friendships that way. I am not a conformist. I am not going to be a banker or a lawyer, or any of the things you are supposed to be when you graduate from Cambridge. I know I could walk into a job like that and earn a lot of money but I couldn't live with myself. I have confidence now in who I am and who I am going to be. Confidence isn't a feeling, it's a decision. Everyone gets into situations sometimes when they are nervous and feel powerless.

There are times when I feel I have no influence and no presence. But I do feel that I have a power that attracts people to me. At university one of the first things you notice as people try to establish their place is that there are a lot of followers, and a few people that everyone wants to gravitate towards. I am not a follower.

What do you want to achieve in your life with your considerable intellect and passion?

I want to liberate people. I feel like people need to be liberated; people need permission to live. People live under so many pressures and often compromise on who they are under these pressures.

These pressures come from the society we live in, the dominant culture, the consumerism. There are a lot of insecure people around.

In the light of these pressures, and the lack of stable adults in the lives of many children in care, who do you think they should look to as a source of that security?

If you are a foster child, even with good foster parents, which not all children in care are lucky enough to have, their expectations of you will always be limited because that is how they have been conditioned. You have to have faith in yourself. At the age of about 13 or 14 I remember asking God to be my dad – that was one of my first prayers. It wasn't a religious thing, it was an inherent need that I asked God for.

God gave us a big mandate with a lot of power; with power comes responsibility. It is our responsibility how we use the authority we have been given, and to determine as individuals and as a collective how successful our future is.

For more information about taster days for children in care at Cambridge University, visit http://www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/care/

Ashley is a supporter of National Care Leavers Week (NCLW). NCLW 2011 'A Day in My Shoes' runs from October 27 to November 2 2011. Find out more here.

Photo credit: Phil Mynott/University of Cambridge