Loughborough University Celebrates Community Success at July Campus Awards Thursday 6th July, 2023

The Community Celebration Awards event is an evening dedicated to honouring student achievements and community partners throughout the year. 

Community Partners from the London campus London Open Fund were joined by student  participants in this year’s Personal Best London programme, Digital Skills Programme, and staff to celebrate community success over the last year.

Professor Charlotte Croffie, Pro-Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion for Loughborough University said:

Creating better Futures Together is more than a Loughborough strapline.  It is integral to the way in which we continue to push boundaries and respect difference.

Being part of the Loughborough London Community Celebrations was an excellent example of what this means in practice. Engaging with our internationally diverse cohort of students, local SME’s, charity organisations, and recipients of London’s Community Donations Fund was evidence of how the ecosystems we support thrive, enhance community engagement, and support our students to further develop life and study skills, growing their professional networks and broaden career prospects.

At the heart of the awards event was the celebration of local charities and community organisations that have been supported with gifts from Loughborough University’s London Open fund.  The Open Fund supports local organisations that enrich the social, educational, cultural and physical wellbeing of people living close to the Loughborough University London Campus.  The Open Fund supported 11 organisations with awards of up to £1,000.

One of the recipients of the Loughborough University London Open Fund was St Joseph’s Hospice, which provides compassionate, specialist palliative care to people in the diverse community of East London who are living with life-limiting illness.

Jane Naismith, Director of Clinical Services and Joint Chief Executive at the Hospice, said:

The Loughborough University London Open Fund has been brilliant for us. Our grant has enabled us to purchase a specialist art easel for use by our patients with movement difficulties. This means they will now be able to benefit from art therapy sessions, which can be of great help with exploring thoughts and feelings at what can be a difficult time in their lives.

The evening celebrated student’s participation across a variety of different activities including: 

Personal Best London

Personal Best London is Loughborough University London’s extracurricular personal and professional development award. Students complete the award alongside their studies. Personal Best London requires students to evidence their development across three sections of the award: Reflection and Action, Skills and Experience. Students must evidence 15 hours of activity throughout their studies. Finally, students must submit a reflective report which demonstrates their commitment to their development during their time at Loughborough University London. 

One of the awardees, Snigdha Hore, who attended to receive her Personal Best London Award said “The whole experience of Personal Best Programme served as a stepping stone that pushed me beyond my limits, helping me to develop determination and resilience and to unlock my full professional potential. During the award ceremony I felt a profound sense of fulfilment and joy, and of recognition for my efforts over the last year.”

For more information about Personal Best London please visit our webpage here.

Digital Skills Programme

The Digital Skills programme offered students the opportunity to gain critical digital skills through extracurricular workshops.  They then test these skills through completing a 30-hour work-insight project.  Projects are hosted by external organisations ranging from start-ups, Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs), charities and not-for-profits. Students work to address a digital project brief with the organisation offering students the opportunity to gain experience, grow their network and include the experience on their CV. 

Dan Robinson, Future Space Projects Manager said:

Enabling students to gain real experience whilst studying is a huge part of our success here at Loughborough University London. This year saw record numbers of students achieving Personal Best London awards and completing Digital Skills Projects with external organisations. This is a real testament to the hard work and resilience of this year’s group.

*Please note that the Digital Skills Programme has now closed, but will soon be replaced by the new and improved Future Space CONNECT!

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all attendees at the Community Celebration event and our students for all their achievements over the last year.