Yeovil College FE Awards Part 2: Firms beat credit crunch to support students

12:00pm Thursday 17th December 2009

By Steve Sowden

AGUSTAWESTLAND were among many organisations that helped to sponsor this year’s Yeovil College Further Education Awards night at the Westland Conference and Leisure Centre.

Despite the threat of the credit crunch, local employers and business were more generous than ever this year, sponsoring nearly twice as many awards as in 2008.

Sponsored awards included the AgustaWestland Apprentice of the Year award, which went to William Rogers, and the Advanced Apprentice of the Year award, received by Oliver Richman.

The Nuffield Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Outstanding Achievement in Maths and Science was awarded to Katherine Coates, who consistently worked hard to achieve the top grades in her subjects.

Mulberry’s Outstanding Achievement in Hospitality award went to Lindsay Evans, who overcame learning issues and ultimately produced an outstanding NVQ portfolio, and the Hays award for Outstanding Achievement in Business, Administration and Finance was received by Krzysztof Jandy, a very enthusiastic student who worked hard to successfully overcome the trials and tribulations of studying in a foreign language.

The Royal Air Force award for Outstanding Achievement in Health and Social Care went to Lucy McIntosh, described as fully deserving the high grades she achieved, while the BAE Systems’ award for Outstanding Achievement in IT and Computing was given to Tom Raybould, who achieved triple distinctions in his BTEC National Diploma qualification.

The four Buck and Hickman Outstanding Achievement in Engineering awards, also known as the ‘Golden Spanners’, which went to Kiah Rance, Elliott Hemmings, Sam Moore and Kyle Bishop, students who have made excellent progress and shown high levels of workmanship during their course.

Organisations also sponsored personal achievement awards, such as the Western Gazette Outstanding Personal Achievement awards, presented to Pamela Symes, who returned to education after a gap of over 60 years, and Karen Barton, who admirably balanced family responsibilities with her studies.

The Numatic Outstanding Personal Achievement award went to a Health and Social Care student, described by her lecturers as a shining example of Yeovil College success.

The Battens’ Student Endeavour award went to Holly Francis, a Foundation Learning student who has overcome many personal obstacles during her time at College, and the Yeovil Town Football Club Outstanding Personal Achievement award was given to Daniel Bowell, who not only achieved a distinction in his BFD ICT Practitioners qualification, but also always had time for others.