Student Excellence Awards Presented at Lisburn Campus #BetteroffAtSERC

Over 50 students were recognised at South Eastern Regional College’s (SERC) annual Student Excellence Awards for students attending the Lisburn Campus at a special event attended by over 200 guests.

The Awards were presented by the Mayor of Lisburn and Castlereagh, Councillor Uel Mackin, Karen Fraser, SERC Board of Governors and guest speaker, Monica McCard. Monica, a past student of SERC, returned to education as an adult learner. She spoke of her education journey, successfully completing an Access course and progressing to Queen’s University Belfast to complete a BSc in Marine Biology and a PGCE. She is currently completing her PhD. Giving some words of advice to students, she said, “Find your passion in the subject area that makes you want to learn and stick with it. If someone says you can’t do something for your education, believe that you can, and prove them wrong. Turn ‘you can’t’, ‘you won’t’ or ‘no’ into ‘I can’, ‘I will’ and ‘yes’ for yourself.”

Ken Webb, Principal and Chief Executive of SERC said, “The Awards are closely aligned to the values of SERC and are presented to students nominated by their Course Tutors from across a range of courses, training programmes and apprenticeships from Construction to Animal Management, IT to Performing Arts, Professional Baking to Security and Alarm Systems. They recognise students who have overcome educational barriers, demonstrated an impressive commitment to learning or have shown excellence in entrepreneurship or project work. We also take this opportunity to recognise local businesses who have shown their commitment to supporting the learning experience at SERC, both for our students as well as upskilling and developing their staff through courses, some of which are bespoke for the sector.

He added, “I would like to congratulate the students and businesses who have received Excellence Awards. The talents of our students never cease to amaze me, and it is important that we recognise all that they have achieved and encourage them in all that is possible for themselves in the future.”