This year The Edge Foundation once again proudly sponsored the Young Student of the Year Award. The award shines a light on individuals who have made a significant impact in their college and community.
Edge is pleased to announce Thomas Hepburn of Weymouth College is this year’s winner of the Young Student of the Year Award.
Tom thoroughly deserves the award for his unwavering determination, thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit.
Tom's constant determination inspired his classmates to aim higher and became a role model within the class. Students would look to his "can do" positive attitude and see this as motivation to work harder and achieve more. Tom would happily sit with other peers in the class and help them with the subject matter. Tom was quite quiet when he joined the group, but was soon welcomed by his classmates and would engage in group conversations and projects. Outside of college, Tom is a keen sailor, with his sailing partner Phil (also disabled and paralysed below the abdomen). They competed in the Hansa UK Nationals at Carsington Water a couple in July and they came 2nd overall in the Hansa 303 class. They became the UK Hansa 303 Champions and 2nd Worldwide, only beaten by the Australians who had massive sponsorship and support team. Tom and Phil have no sponsorship and the support team is Tom's mum. Tom and Phil are also involved in meetings with World Sailing who are trying to get sailing (and the Hansa 303 class) back into the Paralympics. This is a huge target and something for him to aim for in the future.
You can learn more about Tom in this video.
Edge also offers huge congratulations to Juwairia Junaid of Luminate Education Group.
Juwairia’s course is important to her, and she is aiming to pursue a career as a CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) therapist, to help people with serious mental health issues. The Disabled Table, meanwhile, which is the radio show Juwairia co-presents, adopts a humorous tone while discussing disabled stories and experiences. She continues to use this show to educate others and often used to share details of those conversations with her tutor group, which often led to wider debates and discussions. The Level 2 Extended Diploma course particularly and the Health and Social Care Department have been strengthened enormously as a result of Juwairia being such an outstanding and inspiring learner.
Alice Barnard, CEO of Edge said:
“Edge believes education needs to be relevant to life and work in the 21st Century. We have been proud to sponsor the AoC Beacon Award for Practical Teaching and Practical Learning since 2005/6. Congratulations to all the finalists and our winner Thomas Hepburn and runner up Juwairia Junaid.”
Learn more about the winners and the award here.