Apollonia Hinchliffe

Here's why Apollonia was nominated by their tutor:

"I am nominating Polly for this award, because I believe she is the perfect example of how the opportunities provided by the college and further education environment can really change someone’s path and the opportunities available to them.

She had a difficult time at school, and left without achieving any grade 4s. But she is creative, so she enrolled onto Level 2 Photography & Journalism. I think she would agree that it was a shock to the system, she found the workload hard, and she was often anxious and worried about her progress. However, doing that course introduced her to journalism which is not something she’d ever considered as a career path - generally it would never be suggested to a school student that they should pursue journalism if their English grades are not very high. But journalism is not all about writing; it’s about being interested in people, asking questions, problem solving, and multimedia skills. Polly is an excellent presenter, podcaster and video editor, and these are skills she would not have uncovered had she not followed the path she has.

Polly chose to progress from that Level 2 course onto Level 3 journalism, and she has gone from strength to strength. Her target grade is a Pass, and she almost always exceeds this. Her attendance is amazing, she works hard in class and at home, and she continues to strive to get her level 4 in English.

In the three years I have taught Polly, she has transformed as a person and become confident and resilient. She has taken part in lots of enrichment activity, such as podcasting from the red carpet at the Student Celebration Awards last year and interviewing 3D Design students who were working on an industry-led design project. She has offers to go and study journalism at university and I have no doubt she’ll get the grades she needs to do this.

Polly is hard-working and dedicated enough that she would have found her own path to a great career, I’m sur. But the opportunities opened up to her by college and the adjustments we have been able to make to meet her needs really demonstrate how students can thrive in this environment, which is why I think she’s a great candidate for this award."