Accrington and Rossendale College Student Wins National Adult Learners’ Week Award

29 Year old Michelle Walsh from Accrington has scooped a National Adult Learners’ Week award, one of the most prestigious awards of its kind, and attended a ceremony in London where she collected her award.

Michelle’s win was made all the more special by the fact that Niace, the event organisers, received a record number of nominations this year.  The ceremony took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.

Michelle was inspired to leave her retail job of 10 years - after returning to education – to pursue a career as a Positive Steps Development Officer with the CVS (Council for Voluntary Services).  Her dedication and commitment to learning is being recognised with a National Individual Award – sponsored by the European Social Fund (ESF) - as part of Adult Learners’ Week 15 - 21 May 2010.

Having worked in retail for 10 years, Michelle wanted to complete a customer service course but apprehension meant she felt most comfortable starting slowly with a taster course. Michelle’s confidence quickly grew and she progressed onto a Maths and English course, as well as NVQ Level 2 in customer service. “Since doing the Foundations in Customer Service course, my confidence about learning in college has risen to an all time high. I would never have thought about going to college to get my GCSE/NVQs which I did not get at school, as I left aged 14,” said Michelle.

Her hard work has paid off and Michelle has recently left the world of retail and got a new job with the CVS as a Positive Steps Development Officer. She is also continuing her learning and recently passed her Literacy Level 2.

Joanne Calvert, who made the nomination said, “I’m really proud of Michelle and all that she’s accomplished.  She’s a brilliant advertisement for adult learning and the fact that she’s won this award means she can be great role model and hopefully lots of other adults will follow in her footsteps after seeing how well she’s done.

”Michelle graduated from the Pathways to a Level 2 project, which is funded by the European Social Fund and ran in partnership with the Lancashire Colleges Consortium.