Lambeth College's five year Career Academy celebration
Tuesday 27 July
On 17 June, students, tutors, alumni, business leaders and representatives from Career Academies UK came together to celebrate five successful years of the Business and IT Career Academies.
The pilot scheme was launched back in 2005 with a group of enthusiastic young students from the BTEC National Diploma in Business course being the first to take advantage of the many excellent opportunities and benefits it provides. Then, just two years after it’s initial inception, the scheme was extended to students on our BTEC Natonial Diploma in Computing course.
Abraham Wilson, a student from the very first intake, came along to the celebration event to speak to the guests about his experiences and how membership of the Career Academy had inspired him. He said: “Taking part in this marvellous scheme helped me to decide what it was I wanted to do. I got a very good insight into the kind of career I wanted and how to go about getting that career.” Abraham has just completed a BA (Hons) degree course in Economics at Brunel University.
Natasha Hewitt, another former Business student, told the guests: “The extra guidance I received from industry professionals as well as the paid work experience at Credit Suisse in Canary Wharf was extremely valuable to me. I feel privileged to have taken part in the scheme and receive all these incredible opportunities. I am eternally grateful to Lambeth College and Career Academies UK.” Natasha is currently half way through her Accountancy degree course at Greenwich University.
Amongst the many guests and partners from the business world was Tom Baber of GE (General Electric) UK. Tom is also the Chair of the Local Advisory Board. He said: “GE supports the Career Academy by passing on the wealth of professional expertise, skills and knowledge, held by our staff, to help enthuse the students and create career paths and networks to them.”
Tom came along to the celebration event to present Career Academy students with a number of awards, which are designed to reflect the set of professional core skills, and values, which the Career Academy aims to encourage in its members. These values are essential to the success of anyone who wants to be taken serious by employers, clients and colleagues in any business. They are: courtesy and respect, team working, ambition, focus, punctuality, reliability and good work ethics. Students Latifah King, Saudiq Baoku, Simon Whittle and Mohammed Idle were chosen by tutors to receive the accolades achieved throughout the year for their great work and enthusiasm in these areas.
IT student Shauna Hatch was awarded a special prize for the most outstanding Career Academy student of the year. Smitta Soda, Curriculum Manager for Business and IT, said of her: “Shauna is the perfect student. She has huge amounts of talent and enthusiasm. Her work is first class and she is a shining role model to fellow students in the Career Academy.”
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