College News

QE Student Jessica Elmore Wins Prestigious BTEC Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Learner of the Year Award.

The exceptional achievement of Bishop Auckland’s Jessica Elmore from Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington was celebrated today as she was awarded the prestigious BTEC Award for Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Learner of the Year 2020.

Jessica was recognised for working hard to achieve success, exceeding expectations in all aspects of her student life, and giving back. Her hard work and dedication was celebrated at the tenth anniversary of Pearson’s annual BTEC Awards hosted online on 25 June 2020 at 2pm.

Nancy Wall, Course Leader for Travel & Tourism, commented: “Jess is a fantastic student whose work ethic is second to none, however her ability to balance this with the huge amount of community work she does is astounding. She is an exceptional young person of whom I am extremely proud.”

Jessica also commented “I chose a BTEC as I thought it was the best way to develop my skills and progress me on to university.  Choosing this style of course has really helped and given me more opportunities, such as work experience, which was great for my personal development and gave me a real insight into the different areas of the travel & tourism industry.

I care about helping people. Through my involvement with the Interact Club at college I’ve been able to help lots of people in our work with different charities. I like to do this as you get to see the impact you can have on other people’s lives”.

Of winning the award Jessica further commented “I didn’t quite believe it at first as I didn’t expect to win it”.

Well you have won it Jessica and it is very much deserved, you are a fantastic student who thoroughly deserves this national recognition.  Very well done to you, everyone at the college is extremely proud of both you and your achievement.

Across County Durham, a further three learners were awarded bronze or silver awards.

The 2020 BTEC Awards comprised of 17 categories and was hosted by presenter of the United Stand, YouTube influencer and BTEC Ambassador, Flex, with awards presented by Double Olympic Gold medallist Max Whitlock as well as actress and former BTEC Drama student at The BRIT School, Kellie Shirley. The expert panel of judges made up of Pearson’s senior leadership team, journalists and external experts, carefully considered the nominees before deciding on the winners.”

Cindy Rampersaud, Senior Vice President BTEC and Apprenticeship, said: “This year I’ve been over-whelmed by the quality of BTEC Award nominations we received and I am delighted to celebrate this year’s winners and the achievements of all learners who will be awarded a BTEC this year. Over the past few weeks and months, we’ve seen how the current pandemic has highlighted the critical role of key workers and individuals who are likely to have followed a vocational educational pathway such as BTEC. “