James Brown has been named BTEC Engineering Student of the Year 2018.
The prestigious award was won by James, who studies on the College’s Space Engineering programme in partnership with the National Space Academy, at the ceremony at Central Hall Westminster in London, on Thursday 5th July 2018.
The award was presented to James by Tunji Akintokun MBE, Senior Vice President of NSC Global and BTEC Ambassador following careful consideration of each nominee by an expert panel of 52 judges.
Dr Zoe Washington, who heads the Space Engineering programme at Loughborough College, said: "We are incredibly proud of James. Over the past year he has been awarded Physicist of the Year by the Ogden Trust and he has won the coveted George Fraser Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement.
“During his time with us on the Space Engineering programme James has always been willing to help others in the class, with a mastery of every topic we teach but it is his desire to look beyond purely getting the correct answer that really sets him apart.
“Being named Engineering Student of the Year at the 2018 BTEC Awards is further recognition of his focus, enthusiasm and talent. We wish him every success for the future - and suspect this will not be the last we hear from James."
Andy McMurray, Head of Teaching and Learning at the National Space Academy, added: “From the first moment James joined the Space Engineering course he has demonstrated outstanding ability and commitment. James is an engineer in all that he does: his imagination and technical ability allows him to develop and test solutions to solve problems. This award is extremely well deserved! I really look forward to seeing what’s next for James and am pleased that we’ve been part of his journey so far.”
James said: “I was excited even to be nominated but to be announced as winner of Engineering Student of the Year … I feel very honoured.
“My parents have been incredibly supportive and they think it is amazing I have won.
“Loughborough College and the National Space Academy have backed me all the way through the course. Without a doubt it has been worth travelling for around three hours to every Space Engineering lesson. I have really enjoyed everything about the programme.
“The combination of A-level Maths and Physics with BTEC Engineering has been a great balance of academic and project work. The teaching has been outstanding and there are so many exciting activities and opportunities.
“We’ve had visits with astronauts and were given the chance to see the ExoMars Rover – then when I built my own Rover my teachers arranged for me to show it to the Airbus engineers who have been building the real one.
“It took me almost a year to put together from design stage through 3D printing some of the parts to the finished rover which can move about over rocks.
“Last summer I was selected for a Rolls Royce project to design and build a prototype airborne drone to inspect hard to reach areas in power plants and this summer I have decided to begin building my own quad copter drone.
“I will also be working at a software engineering company – and alongside all that I’ll be hoping to get the results I need for university. I have an offer to study aerospace engineering at Southampton.
“I have learnt so many new and interesting skills on the course and I am looking forward to putting them to good use during my time at university."
Rod Bristow, President of Pearson in the UK, said: “I want to offer my congratulations to James for winning this award. The judges were hugely impressed by the quality of nominations this year and this is a fantastic achievement.
“The BTEC Awards are one of my favourite events of the year. They are a wonderful celebration, not just of the outstanding winners themselves, but of the value of the BTEC qualification to employers and universities around the world.”
Spanning 24 categories, the eighth annual Pearson BTEC Awards were hosted by financial journalist and TV Presenter Steph McGovern, and showcased the fantastic contributions made by students and young people studying for BTECs. The ceremony was attended by the winners, their families and teachers as well as leading stakeholders from the education and business worlds.