Former Blackpool council worker wins national award

The 36-year-old Blackpool student has been presented with a Silver Award in the annual BTEC Awards, in recognition of his" exceptional achievements" while studying at Blackpool and The Fylde College.

Former Blackpool Council worker Chris rebooted his studies in 2018 when he signed up to an engineering course at B&FC - and he's not looked back since

.After completing that qualification last year he decide to stay on at the college and do an HNC engineering course, which he has had to finish during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Tutor Karen Whiteside was so impressed with his efforts that she nominated Chris for the BTEC Engineering Student of the Year award - and he came national runner up.

Karen said: "Chris has repeatedly demonstrated all the attributes that his future employers expect from exceptional engineers.

"He has passion for the subject and meticulous attention to detail. He’s a great team player, inspiring his fellow students and bringing his life experience to the course. It’s been an absolute pleasure helping Chris to gain an advanced understanding of engineering and everyone at B&FC is excited to see where he goes next."

Chris has definitely caught the learning bug and has no regrets about a carer change and said: " There’s always another option. It just takes a bit of work and is maybe a bit of a struggle financially to begin with - but you can get there.It's definitely worth it in the end."

He has his sights set on even more studying and is hoping to get and apprenticeship providing both industrial and academic experience and is planning to make it a hat-trick o qualifications by starting the college’s Nuclear Engineering degree apprenticeship later this year.

The 2020 BTEC Awards comprised of 17 categories and was hosted by presenter of the United Stand, YouTube influencer and BTEC Ambassador, Flex, with awards presented by Double Olympic Gold medallist Max Whitlock as well as actress and former BTEC Drama student at The BRIT School, Kellie Shirley.