Seevic

Apprentice Reece Burgess has been awarded with an Outstanding Achiever award in association with the Jack Petchey Foundation. The Foundation aims to recognise, reward and celebrate the achievements of young people in order to raise their aspirations, make them believe in themselves and make a contribution to their society.

Reece, who is studying an Exercise and Fitness Apprenticeship at the College said: “I was so surprised to win the award. I have never won anything like this before. It’s great to feel like I have really achieved something. I was working in a factory before I came to SEEVIC and I had bigger aspirations, so I started this course and hope to have a career as a gym instructor.”

Reece was nominated for the award by his tutors and classmates after putting in extra time and working extremely hard to overcome his dyslexia. His tutor, James Smith said: “Awards like the Jack Petchey Award are a great way to encourage students to achieve more and overcome challenges. Reece was chosen to receive the award because of the hard work he has put in and continues to put in to help him achieve his goals.”

As part of winning the award Reece will be awarded with £200 to spend on something he feels will improve the College. He would like the money to go towards new equipment for the College gym, Zones. Reece said: “I thought this would be a good way to spend the money as I hope to start out working in a gym myself, whilst working my up through the levels of the course. I have enjoyed the course and liked learning about the theory of exercise and fitness. It has been stressful at times but with the help and support I have received at SEEVIC I feel that I have the knowledge and skills to reach my goals.”

SEEVIC College, Benfleet Campus run a number of Apprenticeship Programmes in areas including Business, Customer Service, Finance, Public, Health & Care Services and Sport & Leisure, applications are now being accepted for starts in September 2010.