UCEN Manchester celebrates Student Awards 2021
The virtual event showcased students’ remarkable achievements over an academic year like no other.
Students and colleagues at UCEN Manchester came together at a virtual event on Thursday evening to celebrate the wonderful achievements of students over this unprecedented academic year.
Alongside further education partners The Manchester College and apprenticeship provider Total People, the College brought together students, their friends, and families, tutors, and support staff for an online celebration event, presented by former BBC Radio Manchester presenter Chelsea Norris.
Entertainment was provided by the College’s talented Performing Arts students. Jodie Woods and Oliver Williams opened the night with a scene from ‘Ordinary Days The Musical’, while Mark Smith and Isabelle Lownes performed a contemporary dance piece.
Throughout the night, attendees heard inspiring, heart-warming stories from tutors about why they nominated their students.
The night ended with the prestigious Student of the Year award, chosen by Lisa O’Loughlin, Principal of The Manchester College. The award was given to three deserving students; Patrik Kanscar, Jamie-Louise Lucas, and Jeneve Hines-Braham.
On winning the award, Access to HE student Jeneve, who tuned in with her family on the night and is going on to study English at the University of Cambridge, said: “I’m a bit overwhelmed, but with joy! Thank you so much, to my family and to my tutors, especially Shelley Deasey and Glenn Meads. Without Shelley, I wouldn’t have applied to any university, let alone Cambridge! Being able to work with her was amazing.
“Glenn is just so generous with his time and energy. He’s supported me throughout the course when times have been really hard. The pastoral team have been great as well, I just want to say thank you to everyone!”
Commenting on the awards, Lisa O’Loughlin said: “The Student Awards 2021 was a fitting celebration of our students’ fantastic achievements over the course of this year.
They have shown resilience, determination and hard work to achieve their goals and deserve all the success that is heading their way.
“The achievements of both our finalists tonight and also every student who has taken positive steps forward in reaching their aspirational goals would be truly phenomenal had they been achieved in normal circumstances. But what makes them even more remarkable is that they were achieved while facing incredible challenges and it really is important that we do justice to the scale of these accomplishments by putting them into the context of a global pandemic where they faced unprecedented challenges.
“The reasons my colleagues gave for nominating their students filled me with immense pride. They are a credit to UCEN Manchester and we wish them all the very best for the future. We can’t wait to hear about the amazing things they will go on to achieve.”
Earlier this week, a celebration event also took place on Microsoft Teams to crown the UCEN Manchester Student of the Year. The award went to Criminology and Social Justice student Kiara Burke, with her nominator, tutor Donald Entwistle, saying: “Kaira has high expectations of herself in terms of self-confidence, independence and quality of work. She exhibits enthusiasm, empathy, and excellent employability skills which promote positive behaviours. Kaira makes high demands on herself and sets tough personal goals, but always goes the extra mile to achieve them.”
The full list of winners is:
- Student of the Year – Patrik Kancsar
Jamie-Louise Lucas
Jeneve Hines-Braham
- UCEN Manchester Student of the Year – Kaira Burke
- Industry Excellence Award – Patrik Kancsar (The Manchester College)
- Rising Star Award – Farhan Khan (The Manchester College)
- Greatest Achiever Award – Jeneve Hines-Braham (UCEN Manchester)
- Most Inspiring Award – Jamie-Louise Lucas (The Manchester College)