A memorable graduation week at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) posed the question whether a home in Barclay Street is the brainiest house in Leicester after all six girls sharing the property scooped First Class degrees.
Now it has emerged that a group of male housemates, from the other end of the same West End street, have all got Firsts, setting a new poser: Is Barclay Street the brainiest street in Britain?
BOYS FROM NO.12: (From left, Rakesh Mistry, Josh Grindley, Daniel Thornley, Jake Healey and Patrick Kerr (Daniel graduated on a different day to his housemates!)
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The two camps not only know each other well, sharing a lively social scene during at least their final year at DMU, but two of them – Eleanor Kerr and Josh Grindley - have actually become an item!
The Barclay Street couple have already moved down to north London to share their career journey into first jobs, Eleanor on the Tesco graduate scheme in Hatfield, Josh joining MC&C, a media marketing agency in the City.
Josh explained: “Emma Gristwood was the first person I got to meet at DMU in our very first tutorial and we remained good friends from then on.
“It helped that a lot of us from the two houses were on the same courses and able to support each other.”
Also graduating from No.12 were Patrick Kerr (Advertising and Marketing Communications), Daniel Thornley (Electronic Engineering) and Jake Healey and Rakesh Mistry who, like Josh, claimed top honours in Business and Marketing.
They, too, are starting to see their academic achievements win recognition from employers, with Dan set to join the Siemens graduation scheme in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Patrick continuing his internship secured under the DMU Graduate Champions programme, working from home for a cloud-based software company based in Norwich.
Walking away with a First was particularly sweet for Patrick Kerr (no relation), who had to contend with breaking a leg in a car accident, last summer and had to negotiate much of his final year on crutches.
“It was a brilliant year for all the guys, most of whom had known each other from their first days at DMU,” said Patrick.
“We were all good friends with the girls from 161, too, going round to each other’s houses for pre-drinks, eating out on Narborough Road, going to the students union and so on… Halloween night was particularly memorable.”
BEACH BOYS: (Left to right) Daniel Thornley, Josh Grindley, Rakesh Mistry, Patrick Kerr and Jake Healey on a post-exam break in Devon
So anyone thinking Barclay Street must be strictly for swats couldn’t be more wrong. Apart from the socialising, the housemates represented a number of DMU sports societies with Josh playing American Football, Dan basketball and Patrick excelling at squash (pre-car accident). Rakesh was a social member of a number of these societies and also continued to follow his beloved Leicester City, as a loyal season ticket holder.
Yet the guys from No.12 and the girls from No.161 still managed 11 first-class degrees between them, from two student houses on the same street inside the DMU Square Mile. Some streets – Harley, Bleeker, Downing - have a world-famous ring about them; maybe Barclay Street, LE3 0JA could yet do the same? Employers, at least, would do well to take note.
ALL SMILES: (Left to right) Emma Gristwood, Clara Mooring, Emma Fawcett, Nia Davies, Eleanor Kerr (front) and Hannah Marshall got their results in Spain
Posted on Thursday 23 July 2015