Student Development at University of Leicester runs the Leicester Award scheme. I have been involved in the scheme through my position on the Student Communication Team (SCT). It was my first time attending an award ceremony in academia, the last one was way back in 1999, when I won third prize for making a model of a computer (with Styrofoam, in a group of four). I remember the prize was Famous Five book, which still is part of my library back home.
Leicester Award ceremony for the 2010-11 year was on 10th of June 2011 in the Peter Williams Theatre from 5 – 7 pm. I was dressed up formal (complete suit and tie) and was glad I did as a good 80% of the attendees were in complete formal attire.
The evening began with a check-list entry. I was one of the earliest one’s to be there. There were some drinks and finger-food on offer along with a set of boards, laying out the ten schemes which are part of the Leicester Award.
The theatre itself was pretty large and filled up pretty soon. The planning and organisation was well thought through. Once seated in designated rows, the arrival of our Vice-Chancellor Prof. Robert Burgess, lead the signal of beginning the ceremony. It began with a quick introduction by Steve Rooney. I have tried to quote interesting / important bits as much as I can, but I am not a reporter, so bear with tits-bits of information.
Steve Rooney welcomed “a lot of guests” and students both “past and present on the program”. He “thanked” the VC for attending and supporting the scheme through the years. He ended the introduction with a good round of applause to all in attendance.
The stage was then taken by Zara Hooley who began with the famous quote “if you wan’t something done ask a busy person” attributing the valuable time-management skills the students on Leicester Award scheme have shown, in balancing their academic year along with the Leicester Award scheme responsibility. Through her did I realise that there were 425 students on all the schemes together this year and a couple of more schemes are scheduled to come in next year. (A good number, but in practice only 2% of University of leicester students).
She then invited the VC on stage to handout the certificates. Once this was done, the VC had the stage to himself. He congratulated everyone on the scheme on winning the award and was glad to know there are 10 schemes running on the Leicester Award. He stressed the initial goal by saying “we started the program to focus on employability and help students gain skills”. He was proud to point-out that “we we first of only a handful of universities to offer this scheme”. He further went on to stress the beauty and viability of the scheme when he announced that “other universities come and meet us to learn about the program and are trying to establish similar schemes for their students”. He further stated “we are enthusiastic to show employers what skills our graduates can offer”, this further goes on to show, that a student has to be enthusiastic to be successful on the scheme and that is in essence in the DNA of the program. It is not just-another-program, Leicester Award is a well-structured and intense program.
The VC then introduced us to a project, which in my view is something that ‘professionalises’ students at university itself and gives them more accountability of their university life. It is the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR). As you can read by clicking the link, our VC has played a central role in formulating this and he has announced that final year students this year, can just about have a go at it. I for one cannot wait to try the HEAR and to record my three years as an undergrad student.
The program then went on to take some student presentations. The first of which was on a student who was supported by Enterprise Inc. and Student Development. The business is called Inspired-Quill and those of you amateur writers should check it out, it’s pretty cool. The next was on a student doing a placement with a charity the third was a scheme run in association with the University of Leicester Students Union, about leadership and finally a presentation by a student on the volunteering program. All the presentations were really good and I was impressed with the kind of students that have achieved the Leicester Award scheme alongside me.
Finally the program came to an end with Steve Rooney congratulating guests who came along to show their support, the VC and students who won the award. He thanked members of the Student Development for working hard helping students on the scheme and developing the schemes further as well. He left himself out, for hosting a very good evening, but I think that’s fair as he was first to greet students and smell the fabulous perfumes right at the beginning !!!
All in all it was a nice evening and I hope next year the scheme gets bigger and better. I would love to be part of the scheme and look forward to meeting students in some capacity in years to come.
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A marked change and improvement on some of the previous fresher introduction packages. I highly recommend having a look. I don’t know if I can get hold of one, surely someone will want a free cup of coffee.
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