Published: June 28, 2023
Our Certificate Ceremony 2023 took place on Tuesday 27 June, again in the grand surrounds of our valued partner and neighbour St Cecilia’s Hall, bringing together a full-capacity crowd to celebrate the students from across our various courses, classes and groups who have achieved this year.
It was a real celebratory event, with students and guests arriving to a slideshow presentation of the work of our Access Photography students. There was also live music from a local community music group.
For 22/23, we awarded a bumper 268 certificates to 192 students (this includes students awarded under more than one category). The courses awarded were: Access Photography; Access Data; Digital Media; Photo Arts Group Empowerment (PAGE) project; as well as our University of Edinburgh courses – a new venture for 22/23 – and our various Community College classes.
We were also thrilled to award Volunteer of the Year to Anna Raffles for helping provide usable IT equipment for our students; Partner of the Year to The Turn2us Edinburgh Trust, a fund offering support to people who are struggling financially in the City of Edinburgh; and The Angus Whyte Award, in honour of our former Board Chair, to one of our former students who shone extra bright this year in terms of individual achievement.
Finally, we were honoured to have a trio of student speakers on the day, who delivered passionate and emotive speeches about their personal journeys and how Access to Industry has helped them. It was a privilege to hear them share their stories.
Adele Hill and Sally McGreevy, Access to Industry’s Co-Chief Executives, said:
‘What a fantastic day our Certificate Ceremony 2023 was! We were so happy to again be back in-person awarding a bumper batch of students’ achievements, in the beautiful historic surrounds of St Cecilia’s Hall. Our Students, Lecturers, and Caseworkers alike have all worked so hard this year. We feel very proud to have been able to offer so many educational courses and group work that make a tangible difference to peoples’ lives by giving them the training, qualifications and support they need to excel. Congratulations to everyone involved!‘
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