More than 500 University Centre Weston (UCW) students celebrated achieving their degrees at three graduation ceremonies held in the town on Saturday (24th September).

Students in their mortarboards and gowns walked in processions to St John the Baptist Church for the ceremonies, where they enjoyed an inspiring speech from former triathlon world champion Chrissie Wellington and received scrolls to signify their academic achievements.

As well as being the largest ever group to graduate from UCW, the graduates of 2016 are also among the most successful, with close to a quarter of Honours students achieving First Class degrees – above the national average of 19%.

Staff from Bath Spa University and the University of the West of England, Bristol – UCW’s partner universities – were also in attendance to share the special day with the graduates.

Anthony Murray, UCW’s Vice Principal Higher Education, said: “It is always wonderful to celebrate the many successes of our students, and graduation at UCW keeps getting bigger and better.

“We are especially proud of our students in a year where UCW has achieved a fantastic outcome in the Higher Education Review, which saw independent assessors endorse our academic standards and praise how we teach and support our students.

“Almost all of the students who graduated last year are now either working or in further studies, and I’m sure that this year’s graduates also have bright futures ahead of them.”

Among the many UCW success stories this year are the 47% of graduates on the Bachelor’s degree in Applied Computing being awarded First Class Honours.

Course Coordinator Joe Abdulgani said: “These brilliant results reflect their talent and dedication and I’m really pleased everyone had such a memorable and enjoyable day.”

Every piece of coursework submitted and every exam taken by Rimante Zagreckaite, aged 21, on her Bachelor’s degree in Business Management with Sustainability was marked as a First, and she was surprised on Saturday by her father and brother flying in especially from Lithuania to see her graduate.

India Lawton, aged 21, who won the prestigious BDC New Designer of the Year Award at the New Designers Exhibition in London in July, graduated with a First after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design.

India is moving to London this week having secured a graphic design role with Amazon.

She said: “After winning the award earlier in the summer and then finding out about the First and getting my job, this has been a great way to celebrate and say goodbye to UCW.”

The processions were fronted by a samba band and singer Marvin Muoneke.

The 20-year-old, who impressed judges on The Voice last year and has toured Britain with a musical over the summer, has progressed from UCW’s Foundation degree in Popular Music on to its new Bachelor’s degree in Professional Music Performance and Production.

John Byrne, aged 51, achieved a Bachelor’s degree in Counselling despite having suffered from throat cancer during the academic year.

Thankfully now in remission, John’s lecturers supported him while he was in hospital and he was able to keep up with his studies while receiving treatment.

He said: “I couldn’t have made a better decision than enrolling with UCW, and I think I speak for every graduate in saying a big thank you to our families and friends for supporting us and sharing this special day with us.”

A Weston College student has been selected for Wessex Water’s Young People’s panel, an enterprise which gives 16-18 year olds the opportunity to experience running a business.

Chris Hutchings, 17, who studies A Level Business Studies, Photography and English at Weston College’s Sixth Form Centre, has been attending meetings at Wessex Water as part of an initiative which enables young people to have a say in how the company is run.

Chris said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for me to benefit from hands on work which will supplement the theory I’ve learnt in class.

“So far it has been an excellent insight into businesses’ decision making processes, and will be good experience when I apply to university.”

At their first meeting last month, the panel met managers at the company and were taken on a tour of the company’s headquarters in Bath.

At the end of the day, the panel was set the task of creating a presentation about ideas to promote the company’s installation of water metres and improve its customer services.

Chris said: “My presentation will be about the creation of a mobile app that would allow people to monitor their water metre readings and automatically budget their water usage for them, to make sure they are saving money and aren’t wasting water.”

Claire Timmins, Business Studies Tutor at the College, said: “Weston College is all about providing students with the skills and experience they need to progress to work or university.

“This opportunity at Wessex Water is another example of or students benefitting from our strong links with employers across the South West.

“I am confident Chris will prove a credit to himself and the College during this placement.”

A Weston College sponsored racing driver, Roger Orgee Jr, has won a dramatic showdown in the final race of the 2016 Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship.

The race started well with Roger trailing rival Michael Moyers for the first lap until an accident caused a red flag race stoppage and the grid lined up for a restart. To win the championship, Roger needed to either win or finish just behind Michael.

At the restart the front row drivers both made poor starts and Roger was fourth and Michael directly behind in fifth.

Michael tried to pass Roger during the first lap, but misjudged his braking distance and crashed into the back of Roger’s car, spinning him round and damaging his own car so badly that he was out of the race.

Roger dived into the pits to have a damage check, the car was running but looked unsafe to continue when it was confirmed that Michael was out and Roger was champion.

Next year Roger is hoping to move up to racing sports cars, already having had the opportunity to test a works Porsche Carrera and a Ginetta GT4.

Weston College’s motorsport study programme provides students with the opportunity to work with Formula Ford race mechanics in the College workshops and trackside, and helps to get them involved with the local racing circuit.

In 2015, Roger Orgee Racing’s second car, a Van Diemen RF02, was repaired at the College’s South West Skills Campus following a collision at Silverstone race course.

Roger Orgee Racing can also offer our learners unique opportunities to attend racing events and meet industry professionals.