Four students from Barking & Dagenham College won 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in the World Skills IT competition regional heats.
19 year old Edward Flack from Wickford won the regional heat of the World Skills 2018 IT Support Technician competition.
He had to do a four hour exam, acting as if he was an IT technician in the workplace: “I was really surprised to win; last year I came third but this year I was more prepared and had used so-called ‘virtual machines’ in my free time so I think that gave me a competitive edge. My friends and family are really proud of me.”
Edward has finished his level 3 BTEC at the College and he now has an offer to study computing and IT at Surrey University. Also, next week he has an interview for a coveted Degree Apprenticeship with Ford. He is one of a small number to get down to the interview stage for this amazing opportunity; a Degree Apprenticeship allows you to get a degree completely for free, as the employer pays all the fees.
If successful, not only would Edward’s fees be paid, but Edward explains: “Ford also offers a very good salary whilst you are studying for your Degree Apprenticeship starting at £19,400 in the first year and ending at £28,000 in the final year.
Khaisz Namgyalai, 19, from Gants Hill took part in the same competition as Edward. Amazingly, despite being only a level 1 student at the moment, he secured 2nd place in the competition. Next year, Khaisz is going on to study Access to HE in Computing at Barking & Dagenham College. After the one year Access course he aims to go to university and then after that he would like to become an IT engineer.
3rd place went to yet another Barking & Dagenham College student 18 year old Maria Levi Rodrigues Adriao from Dagenham.
Meanwhile in another regional heat of the World Skills 2018 competition, student Jason Santos was gaining 1st place in the IT Software Solutions heats.
18 year old Jason from Dagenham is a first year level 3 IT student and is returning to the College after the summer to finish his BTEC. Jason is doing really well at College and is likely to get distinctions across the board. Jason said: “Whilst I was taking part in the competition I felt like it was going well, but I was delighted to find out that I actually came first!”
