Miss NI Finalist Set for Business Degree at SERC

A Miss Northern Ireland finalist has parked the beauty competition scene to accelerate her business acumen with a degree at South Eastern Regional College (SERC).

Jessica Webb (20) from Portavogie is currently a second-year student on the Liverpool John Moores BA (Hons) Business Studies degree at SERC’s Bangor Campus.  

Jessica has been entering the Miss Northern Ireland competition since she met the criteria and after being crowned Miss Bangor in 2018, she successfully reached the finals to be one of only 23 women vying to for the title of Miss Northern Ireland.

She said, “Miss Northern Ireland was an excellent opportunity for me to gain essential life and employability skills. The competition motivated me and built my confidence throughout my teenage years – you are involved in everything from beauty bootcamps to photoshoots and interviews.   Taking care of yourself and time management are essential. I gained resilience, independence and learned how to network.   Besides that, I met the best group of empowered, interesting and inspiring women from my home country that you could ever hope to meet.”

Jessica plans to enter again in 2021 once she has completed her degree

Following a year of study overseas and competing in Miss Northern Ireland Jessica knew she wanted to stay closer to home. After researching her options, she decided to enrol on the degree course at SERC. She said, “I am really enjoying the degree programme and would recommend it to anyone considering higher education. I love that the class sizes are smaller.”

She added, “The lecturers truly care about each student and their progress and the extra encouragement I have received has really helped me when completing assignments.”

Finally, she said, “I am saving money through SERC as I travel from home and the fees for my course are much less expensive than they would be at a university.   At the end of the day, I will have my degree from Liverpool John Moores University but I haven’t had to bear the expense or the travel. That’s a win-win for me.”