Northern Ireland Career Academies host their first regional event
Thursday 15 April
The Great Hall of Queen’s University, Belfast provided a most impressive setting for the first regional event for all the Career Academies students in Northern Ireland. A total of over 70 students participated on the day, representing the three colleges – Belfast Metropolitan, North West Regional, and Southern Regional - who run the four Career Academies currently operating in the province.
The event enabled the students to meet and network with each other and to engage in a range of activities and presentations specifically designed, in keeping with the aims of Career Academies UK, to help raise aspirations and develop the employability skills of the students.
After the introduction and welcome from James McCreary, Chief Executive of Career Academies UK, the programme began with an interactive table quiz based on the format of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ with the students pitting their wits against each other, and their tutors, on questions which tested their knowledge on a range of diverse subjects, from the academically relevant (business and science) to the absolutely essential ( the number of teeth a snail has)!
The programme continued with a presentation by Debbie West, an accredited Life Coach who specialises in the career and personal development of students and young people. As well as covering the competencies that are characteristic of the most successful people, Debbie gave practical guidance on how to set personal goals and, in working towards these, build an effective CV.
Debbie was followed by James Nelson and Gemma McNally, both of whom are Career Academy alumni, having graduated last year from the first NI Career Academy in Belfast Metropolitan College. Both are now studying for a Business degree at the University of Ulster in Coleraine. In their very impressive presentation, they summarised how they had benefited from their Career Academy experiences, in particular their internships and their Partner in Business mentoring. They also gave the students advice on preparing for exams, as well as some insights into the Higher Education experiences awaiting them in the near future!
The keynote speaker at the event was Will McKee, one of Ireland’s most experienced board directors. Will holds board positions on a number of leading international companies, and in 2002 was recipient of a special award from His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, in recognition of his outstanding personal achievement in business education and training. In his presentation Will outlined the key milestones in his business career to date. In identifying the highs and the inevitable lows, he explained how he had achieved the former, and dealt with the latter. It was a captivating, inspirational, and often very funny presentation enjoyed by students and tutors alike.
The event was organised by the Career Academies UK Regional Manager for Northern Ireland, Hayden Kinley. Speaking after the event Hayden said that it had been a very worthwhile event, and he looked forward to making this an annual feature in the Northern Ireland Career Academies’ calendar. ‘We can certainly build on the basis we have established this year,’ he said, ‘ and I look forward to having more student involvement in the planning and delivery of next year’s event. The number attending will also increase, with the addition of a group of students from the new Career Academy on the Enniskillen campus of the South West College.'
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