March 2012 Newsletter - Oasis Academy John Williams

Young Student of the Year Awards
Throughout the winter period, two of our Lower
Sixth Form Students have been competing with
fourteen other groups to create an iPhone app for
one of four clients. Their client is ‘The Station’ a
company/initiative/group currently converting
The Old Fire Station, in the centre of Bristol, into a
massive multifunctional centre, including dance
studios, cafe, recording studios and a venue for
young adults.
Victoria and James have had a tough time
throughout the competition, very nearly quitting
at one point. When asked why they didn’t, their
response was clear “We wanted to prove to other
schools that two PE students can beat Media
students from established colleges at their own
game. With what we produced we know we’ve
got a good shot at winning an award”.
The awards ceremony for the competition took
place on 26 March, which
coincided with Bristol’s fashion
week at Cribbs Causeway.
Victoria and James also
participated in the fashion show
with their own catwalk to
celebrate the closing of
the competition. The
potential awards up for
grabs were Best Young
Student, Best Project
Manager, Most Improved
Young Student, Most
Innovative Young
Student and a
variety of group
awards including
Best iPhone App,
Best Presentation
and Best Team
Performance.
Victoria, with ease,
picked up Best
Project Manager,
winning £100. She was also nominated for ‘Best
Young Student’, being described as “confident,
mature and tenacious”, with her approach to
working in a professional environment. James also
got nominated for most innovative young student
with his “calm approach, and thinking outside the
box”. The duo also got nominated for Best iPhone
app but were unlucky on this occasion.
Mr Mullender, Media Technician, gave them
direction throughout the competition, keeping
them moving forward. He said that he is “so proud
of the progress the two have made with the
competition. To see them nominated for four of
the seven categories shows that these two young
students have real potential when persevering.
They did prove themselves to the other schools,
but what I think is important is that they proved it
to themselves. For them, this is the beginning of
their professional lives; it’ll be interesting to see
where they are in five years’ time”.
Oasis Academy John Williams are already looking
forward to entering next year’s lower 6 th formers
into the competition and aiming for similar
success.