International hurdler Julz Adeniran’s awards to Uxbridge College students

Uxbridge College students and employer partners were honoured for their achievements by Great Britain and England international 110m Hurdler Julz Adeniran at an awards night.

Julz presented awards to winners chosen from amongst the College’s 8,000+ full-time and part-time learners and its employer partners at the Annual Awards Ceremony on September 15.  The event, held at The Beck Theatre in Hayes, recognised winners chosen from across the College’s academic and vocational programmes – including GCSEs, A-levels, BTEC qualifications, Apprenticeships and HNDs – and from among the 1,000 employers the College works with.

Successful students included overall winner Zanib Shahid, 20, who received the Super Star prize, sponsored by Lloyds Bank, Commercial. Over four years of study, on Business courses and while completing maths and English qualifications, Zanib progressed from Level 1 to Level 3 – the equivalent of A-levels – and has now achieved a university place. She joined College in 2012 with few qualifications and very little spoken or written English, having newly arrived in the country from Pakistan. She also combined part-time work with her studies after being offered a job at W H Smith following her work experience placement there. An extremely hard-working student who represents the best of Uxbridge College, she is now going to the University of Roehampton to study Criminology.

Zanib was among a number of achievers presented with awards by Julz, who talked about his journey to becoming a competitive hurdler, his philosophy for success, and how his hopes for the 2016 Olympics were dashed when his Achilles tendon snapped while training. He encouraged the audience to focus on their goals, and emphasised the role of applying self-discipline in achieving success, as well as being prepared to keep going after failures and disappointments. He also talked about his hero Usain Bolt and even took a selfie with the audience while striking the famous Bolt celebratory pose.

Principal of Uxbridge College, Laraine Smith OBE, said: “Our Awards ceremony with special guest 110m Hurdler Julz Adeniran was a wonderful celebration of the successes of our students, our employer partners, and the College as a whole – congratulations to everyone. For our students we had a chance to recognise their many achievements, including their academic and vocational achievements, which are often come by despite many challenges, and the many contributions they make to their peer groups and communities. Our awards in the employment-related training category were also a real reflection of how important business partnerships and work-based training is, not only to the College and our students, but to our broader community as a whole. Julz was a real inspiration to everyone and made the evening really special, and I’d like to say a big thank you to him for coming along.”