Travel & Tourism sweeps annual college awards

Travel and Tourism swept the board at the annual East Riding College awards in March.  The prestigious ceremony held in the Royal Hall at the famous Bridlington Spa honours students, employers and staff for their outstanding achievements.

Travel and Tourism student Beth MacDonald scooped up Student of the Year and a Student Team Award.  She said, “It was nerve-wracking walking up on stage to collect the awards.  This type of thing doesn’t happen very often does it?  It was a lot of fun though, in the end.  Accepting something I’ve earned in front of everyone - especially winning two – makes me quite proud of myself.”

Sarah Hamilton, Beth’s tutor said, “Beth has progressed from level two to level three with us and has developed both academically and personally.  The course has allowed her to pursue her interests and her love of Japanese culture, which she has reflected in her assignments.  She is also undertaking the A-Level Extended Project, in which she has explored the rising worldwide trend for ‘staycations’ – where people are holidaying in their own country more and more, rather than travelling abroad.  This will stand her in good stead for university.  There is no doubt that she will excel in whatever she puts her mind to.”

Tutor Sarah was also honoured at the awards with a Professional Development Award for her use of advanced e-learning and for building her network of industry contacts, for the benefit of her students. 

The Level 3 Travel and Tourism students won Student Team of the Year in recognition of the motivation and energy they put into their enterprise project.  They showed creativity and ingenuity, reinvesting some of the profits from their first enterprise sale into materials to make more products for their second.  Their Christmas enterprise event also coincided with the launch of Jet 2’s 2018/2019 Christmas market portfolio, combining their fundraising efforts with promotion of the College’s New Horizons Travel Shop offer.

Sarah applauded their efforts saying, “The organisation, delegation and creativity demonstrated by the students was truly impressive and Jet 2 itself acknowledged this, praising the students’ innovative approach in a news story on their website.  They are deserving winners and their performance and hardworking attitude in all aspects of their studies bodes well for the visitor economy, which is so important to our region.”