The European Parliament Ambassador School Programme at USP College
What is EPAS?
The European Parliament Ambassador School (EPAS) Programme is a non-partisan initiative of the European Parliament which aims to improve the political participation and political education of students in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe by teaching them about European values and European parliamentary democracy.
In the programme, students and teachers at schools and colleges across Europe are designated as European Parliament Junior Ambassadors and European Parliament Senior Ambassadors respectively and tasked with organising activities and events which promote the programme and its aims at their schools and in their local communities. At the end of the year, these schools are then recognised as European Parliament Ambassador Schools with their ambassadors receiving official accreditation from the European Parliament for their efforts.
How does USP College fit into all this?
Unified Seevic Palmer's College is a further education college with three campuses in Essex, England, the Palmer's Campus in Grays, the Seevic Campus in Benfleet and the XTEND Digital Campus in Canvey. We have been an accredited European Parliament Ambassador School since 2021. The UK branch of EPAS was launched at Seevic on 29th April 2021. Since then, EPAS UK has grown to include over 13 accredited ambassador schools, with many more schools currently working towards their accreditation in the programme. USP College is proud to have pioneered this growing family of schools in the UK, which is joined by around 2,000 other schools across the rest of Europe.
EPAS at USP College started as a programme exclusive to our Seevic Campus. In 2022, the programme relocated to our Palmer's Campus, before becoming a cross-campus initiative for both Palmer's and Seevic from 2023. At USP College, EPAS is a student-led initiative, with senior ambassadors mainly providing a supporting or pastoral role while the events, activities and implementation of the programme at our college and in our local community are decided by junior ambassadors. To find out more about the role of junior ambassadors, you can look at the What is a European Parliament Junior Ambassador? article over on our digital infopoint, which also brings together all the latest news, events and activities of EPAS at USP, as well as all the important information about Europe and European politics. Our infopoint can be accessed through the button above on our website header.
To become a junior ambassador, students should talk to our lead senior ambassador Darren Cogavin, who works at both Palmer's and Seevic at different times throughout the college week and can be reached through e-mail at darren.cogavin@uspcollege.ac.uk, or our lead junior ambassador Jayden O'Brien, who can be reached through e-mail at 222545@uspcollege.ac.uk. The programme is not yet available for students at our XTEND Digital Campus in Canvey, but we do hope to expand to XTEND at some point in the near future.
Meet our team!
EPAS at USP College is led by a core group of lead ambassadors, a lead and deputy lead senior ambassador for USP College and a lead junior ambassador for USP College who has two deputies, one from Palmer's and from Seevic. The lead junior ambassador and their deputies are elected into office at the start of each year by all the other junior ambassadors in the programme at USP College. The lead junior ambassador is responsible for overseeing the delivery of the programme at the college with the support of their deputies, with the pastoral support of the lead senior ambassador and their deputy.
Since 2024, the elected lead junior ambassador has been Jayden O'Brien. His deputies are Erdem Gultekin from Palmer's Campus and Sebastian Rapley Mende from Seevic Campus, both elected in 2025. Since 2022, the lead senior ambassador has been Darren Cogavin, who since 2025 has been assisted by Kelsey Pryce. The profiles of each ambassador can be seen below:
Hey, I'm Darren. I'm originally from Ireland and now teach A-Level politics and access to HE (education and teaching) at USP College in Essex. I previously worked in adult community education. I am the lead senior ambassador for EPAS at USP College.
I have two MSc in Equality Studies and Rehabilitation and Disability Studies from University College Dublin. I am also a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Research, Lancaster University. My main research areas are in the fields of the Marxist educational theory and educational inequalities. I also specialise in educational policy, the political economy of education and critical pedagogy.
Hi, my name's Kelsey and I am deputy lead senior EPAS ambassador for USP College.
I've worked here since 2019, originally as a USP learning support assistant and since 2022 as a teacher of history.
I come from Canvey in Essex and went to Appleton School, a comprehensive in Benfleet, and also studied history at the Open University. I also did a level 3 apprenticeship in business administration with USP before going into teaching at the college.
I'm based at Seevic Campus in Benfleet and help out Darren with EPAS over there when he is in Palmer's. I have helped organise college trips for our junior ambassadors and support them in their work at Seevic.
Hi there! I'm Jayden, your lead junior ambassador. I'm currently in my third and final year at college, where I study politics, sociology and English at Palmer's. I've been part of EPAS since my first year here and now use my three years of experience to oversee the programme at USP College as lead junior ambassador.
In my role, I am responsible for overseeing and supporting my deputies in running and implementing the programme at Seevic and Palmer's. As I have a dynamic disability, I spend a lot of my time outside college, so mainly focus on organising things with Erdem and Sebastian and managing this website and the social media side of things from home, but do work and help out in person whenever I'm well enough to do so.
Hello. My name is Erdem. I am proud to serve as your deputy lead junior ambassador for Palmer's Campus. I'm British with Turkish heritage and study the subjects of politics, history and criminology and wish to work in a governmental job to later pursue a parliamentary career.
My main reason to join EPAS is progress and educating the youth about Europe and the European Union we used to be in. My job responsibility is to assist Jayden and other junior ambassadors in organising events such as bringing politicians and other external speakers into the Palmer's Campus.
Hi, I'm Sebastian and the deputy lead junior ambassador for Seevic Campus. I'm 17 years old and am of British, Guyanese and German heritage and I live in Southend. I study politics, geography and economics at Seevic and want to go into environmental/urban geography.
I joined EPAS because I am a strong believer of the European project and I want to spread awareness and knowledge about Europe among young people. As deputy lead junior ambassador for Seevic Campus, I am responsible for co-ordinating events at Seevic and I also help the other junior ambassadors organise events in and outside of college, and also contribute to the EPAS at USP socials.
Our partners
EPAS at USP College is partnered with the USP College Student Union, as well as the non-partisan youth arms of Castle Point Council, Basildon Council, Southend Council and Thurrock Council: Castle Point Youth Council, Basildon Youth Council, Thurrock Youth Cabinet and Southend Youth Council. The team collaborates with these partners to deliver the programme both within USP College and in the wider local communities of Castle Point, Basildon, Southend and Thurrock, which are the communities served by our Palmer's and Seevic campuses. Our European Parliament Junior Ambassadors have representatives in these organisations who serve as both junior ambassadors and members of these organisations, and who help co-ordinate and organise collaborations between these organisations and the programme's team at the college.
Since April 2025, EPAS at USP College has also been in a partnership with the Old Palmerians' Association, which promotes continued support and collaboration between the programme's current junior and senior ambassadors and those who have since left the college. Through this alumni network, former ambassadors have helped organise trips, events and projects for EPAS at USP College, such as the Palmer's Archive on our official Flickr page.
Want to work with us? The EPAS team at USP College is more than happy to discuss collaborating or forming a working partnership with you or members of your organisation. Just contact us using the e-mails stated above and we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
Where are we?
Unified Seevic Palmer's (USP) College was originally founded in Grays in 1706 by its namesake William Palmer. The college took its current form in August 2017 when Palmer's absorbed Seevic College. Today, the Palmer's Campus in Little Thurrock, Grays is the main campus of the college, while Seevic in Thundersley, Benfleet is the secondary campus, with a third XTEND Digital Campus in Canvey Island. Our two EPAS teams are based from Palmer's and Seevic, the exact locations of which can be viewed in the map below.