Recognition of Achievement at SERC Excellence Awards

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06 April 2022

Broadcast Journalist Paul Reilly with Beth Maginness Students' Union at Bangor & Newtownards Excellence Awards

Students, staff, friends, and family gathered across SERC to celebrate the best of the College community at the annual Excellence Awards, 29 – 31 March, which returned to campus for the first time in two years.

More than 200 certificates and awards were presented in recognition of outstanding student achievements at glittering events hosted in Bangor, Lisburn and Downpatrick Campuses, the latter, also the venue for a ceremony for Knockevin Special School students attending the College.

Guests were welcomed with drinks reception and treated to a specially prepared canapé menu, allowing the opportunity to mingle and for photographs before the ceremony commenced.

Guest speakers included Dr Katrina Collins, organisational psychologist and joint owner of The Daily Apron, at Lisburn Campus; SERC alumnus and UTV broadcast journalist, Paul Reilly, at the joint Bangor & Newtownards Campus event; and Naoise Davey, also a SERC alumnus from the Access course, currently in training to be a solicitor with a leading Northern Irish law firm.

This year we were delighted to have headline sponsorship support from Greenview, Decathlon and Newry Mourne and Down District Council along with category sponsorship from Refresh NI, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council and Ards & North Down Borough Council.

Following the presentations, a Vote of Thanks was given by Gemma Diamond, SERC Student Governor, and fellow Students’ Union Officers, Beth Maginness and Andrea Edgar.

Gareth Hetherington MBE, Chair of SERC Governing Body said, “I want to congratulate everyone for their effort and their commitment to achieving and giving their absolute best.  We have all faced the challenges of the pandemic over the past two years and I am immensely proud of the way SERC has risen to meet that challenge.   Many students have also worked hard to tackle and overcome personal challenges and they deserve to be highlighted and celebrated."

He added, “Our continuing success depends on the skills, expertise, and personal commitment of all our staff.  So, this year, we recognise not only the best learners, but also the staff who go the extra mile to deliver excellence.”

A special thanks to our Master of Ceremonies at each event, the judging panel, which consisted of staff and students, our hospitality and music teams for their part in creating such a welcome drinks reception each evening and the student engineering company Cutting Edge who engraved the trophies.

We are currently preparing a landing page where you can view the full roll of honour and watch a video from the ceremonies.

See below to watch the video for our Downpatrick ceremony with Knockevin students.

Congratulations everyone!

Click links below to see photographs:

Bangor/Ards photographs

Downpatrick Photographs

Lisburn Photographs