Emerson Educational Trust Award for Middleton students

The Emerson Educational Trust Award 2012 went to Nile Carney, from Langley in Middleton

Students from across the Borough were honoured at a prestigious award ceremony at the Middleton Arena. The Hopwood Hall College students had been selected from thousands of students to receive awards for their achievements.

Hundreds of people including VIPs and friends and family of the award winners packed out the arena to celebrate the achievements of the learners. VIPs in attendance included the Mayor, Principal Derek O’Toole and the College’s Chair of the Board of Governors Councillor Robert Clegg.

The special guest speaker for the evening was ex-gold medal winning paralympian Marc Woods; Marc had his left leg amputated because of cancer when he was just 17 years old. He had been a County swimmer before the diagnosis and the day after having the stitches out, he started swimming again. His dream was to simply be the best that he could be and just 18 months after he finished his chemotherapy he was selected to represent Great Britain. Marc gave a wonderfully motivating and powerful talk, met with cheers by the audience.

The Emerson Educational Trust Award 2012 went to Nile Carney, from Langley in Middleton. The 19 year old, currently studying for his Fitness Academy Level 3, Personal Trainer, was shocked and thrilled to be presented with the Emerson Award at the ceremony.

Nile’s tutor, Lisa McKay, who nominated him for the award, said: “Nile started with us on a level two course and at first he struggled with the work as he has dyslexia and a difficulty in completing written work and exams. He managed to work through his disability and completed all of his work successfully and, based on his performance, was invited back to complete the Level 3 Fitness academy.”

Nile returned to College last September with a very mature and positive outlook to his studies and he was extremely motivated to do well. He has matured into a very pleasant, caring and committed young man. Through his own motivation, career aspirations and continued development he has proven that he has got what it takes to gain employment within the fitness industry and also achieve high results in his studies.

Nile is now not only a student at Hopwood Hall College but is also a member of staff. As part of the course, he had to secure a work placement within the industry and he gained a place at Link for Life Heywood Sports Centre. The staff were extremely impressed with Nile and his work ethic and this led to him being offered permanent employment for three days per week. This gives Nile the opportunity to put into practice what he has learnt on the course as he is now passing his knowledge and expertise of the fitness industry onto the borough, whilst focusing the rest of his time on his studies.