Three students from City College Brighton and Hove picked up prizes at a Sussex-wide further education awards ceremony.
The hat-trick of successes repeated last year’s performance at the annual awards, with the winners picking up a trophy, certificate and £100 in gift vouchers
One of the runners up in the 14 categories was also a City College student and she received a certificate and a £50 gift voucher.
City College principal Phil Frier said: “There were some fantastic stories on the night of students defying all odds and overcoming many obstacles in achieving their prizes.”
The winners were
- Helen Ansell, who studied on City College’s access to literature programme and won the University of Brighton Award for Widening Participation in Higher Education
- Wendy Tunnicliffe, a Level 2 NVQ professional cookery student who won the Hilton Brighton Metropole Award for Hospitality Student of the Year
- Lewis Tydeman, a plumbing apprentice who won the Sussex Work Based Learner of the Year Award
Interior Design student Karina Carrick was runner-up in NCFE Sussex Learner of the Year category.
Mr Frier said: “The Spring Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate the success of our students in gaining employment skills and qualifications.
“At City College we were delighted for our four award winners, who were selected from hundreds of entries – a great result for the students and staff and for Brighton and Hove generally.”
Helen Ansell, 38, overcame bereavement during her studies. She was left as a single parent when she lost her partner.
Mature student Wendy Tunnicliffe, 41,overcame literacy problems and has notched up a trio of awards in the past year.
As well as her most recent triumph, she won an Adult Learner of the Year award last May and was later named as City College’s Catering and Hospitality City Achiever 2010.
Lewis Tydeman, 22, is dyslexic. He did not originally have the grades to be accepted on the apprenticeship programme because of his disrupted schooling after he suffered severe injuries in a violent assault.
Nor did he have an employer to mentor him through an apprenticeship.
With the help of his City College Skills Adviser, he achieved the necessary grade while holding down two jobs and helping to raise his young son.
Karina Carrick, 27, was heavily pregnant and gave birth in November at home with no midwife present.
She amazed her tutor and fellow students by returning to college without missing a day.
