Students celebrated their achievements with a star-studded evening of mocktails, paparazzi and a glamorous red carpet at the South Downs College 2017 Student Awards.
On Friday, 23 June, students from the College were recognised and praised for their successes and 18 awards were handed to stand-out students.
The evening began with a grand red carpet entrance where students were photographed and interviewed before enjoying a glass of pink fizz at the bar.
The awards ceremony then commenced, where guest speaker and ex-Havant Sixth Form College student, Georgina-Kate Adams, delivered an inspirational talk about her work in founding ‘The Seed’ charity.
Principal and Chief Executive Mike Gaston and Vice Principal Richard Barlow congratulated the successful students for their hard work and commendable efforts. There were smiles and applause all round as awards ranging from ‘exceptional performance award’ to ‘sports team of the year’ were handed out.
South Downs College Customer Experience of the Year Winner, Sam Harfield, said: “Good things like this don’t normally happen to me so this is something quite special. If I get recognised for something like this then it is just an added bonus.
“I think I might have won because I have always been willing to go above and beyond and help others. I am very grateful and also very humble.”
Neena Mundy, who won the Maths Student of the Year Award, said: “It was a bit of a shock when I found out I had even been nominated. I do Maths and Further Maths so it is good to know doing 10 hours of Maths a week has been recognised.”
Rebecca Cole won GCSE Student of the Year. She said: “I was completely shell shocked to hear I had been nominated.
“I have really pushed myself to excel whilst going through personal things, I didn’t give up and I kept telling myself I have started the course so I am going to finish it!
“It is a great feeling that somebody on the outside has recognised the hard work I have put in.”
Principal Mike Gaston said: “It has been a great evening of celebration and it is always a privilege as Principal and CEO to hear of individual success stories from across the College. It is a reminder of what is really important to us as a learning organisation.
“Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
“Our Award winners tonight clearly reflect that and give evidence of a college offering a friendly, and high-quality learning environment with outstanding staff who work tirelessly in supporting and challenging students to achieve. I believe each of our award winners tonight would give testament to that fact.
“Our student success rates and results are at an all-time high, with our students progressing onto a wide range of careers with globally recognised brands, and many students have also set up their own businesses and enterprise projects.
“The future looks very bright for Havant and South Downs College.”
South Downs College would like to thank local businesses Buzzword, Southampton Solent University, Carnival Cruises, Fassett Ltd, Chamber of Commerce, Drayton Medical Services, Rotary Club, Hambleside Business Gift Solution Ltd, Portsmouth Water Company, SSE and Twistedpair, PMT, Horizon Leisure Centre, The University of Southampton and Pizza Express Port Solent for sponsoring the 2017 Student Awards.
The full list of winners for the 2017 South Downs College Students Awards:
Exceptional Performance Award: Owen Russell
SDC Customer Experience of the Year: Sam Harfield
Creative Student of the Year: Alice Adams
Sporting Achievement of the Year: Thomas Block
Sports Team of the Year: LLDD Football Team – Harrison Armstrong, Max Berry, Fraser Carrington, Joshua Wells, Jack Silvester, Daniel Palmer, Callum Dinham, Reece Punter, Joseph Maunder, Alexander Anscombe.
Apprentice of the Year: Martha Thompson
Apprentice Employer of the Year: Carnival UK
Community Spirit Award: Alan Outen
Commitment to Succeed in the Face of Adversity: Rosie Lunn
GCSE Student of the Year: Rebecca Cole
Adult Learner of the Year: Amy Ede
Outstanding Effort and Progress in Foundation for Learning: Liam Bradshaw
Maths Student of the Year: Neena Mundy