Staff and student award nominations for Ayrshire College
Ayrshire College has two representatives in four categories at the upcoming Bridge 2 Business Enterprise Awards.
The 2022 Bridge 2 Business Enterprise Awards recognise students, educators and individuals who are leading the way in enterprise within Scotland’s colleges.
Ayrshire College lecturer in Music, Performance and Media, John McBlain, has been nominated in three categories while Evan Keen, Access to HNC Music student, is shortlisted for the Enterprising Student of the Year Award.
John McBlain won the Further Education College Enterprise Educator award at last year’s ceremony and is aiming to win another award this year in either the Innovation, College Enterprise Champion, or Special Recognition award categories.
John has achieved major success in embedding a podcast into the curriculum. Rockpool Podcasts gives all students in his department the opportunity to develop their editing, recording and publishing skills and gives them a platform to showcase their work. The award-winning podcast has published over 150 episodes so far, with students from every SCQF level – from school-college courses to HND – getting involved.
John has also been heavily involved in the one-of-a-kind partnership established with BBC Radio Scotland’s BBC Introducing in Scotland programme. This project - supported by the Ayrshire College Foundation - gives Ayrshire College students the experience of recording live performances to broadcast quality and has been a fantastic networking opportunity for the college students.
Evan Keen has been shortlisted for his fantastic creative project that he worked on in association with Kilmarnock Football Club. Evan recorded, released and promoted a cover version of ‘We Found Love’ by Calvin Harris and Rihanna, to commemorate and celebrate the 10th anniversary of Kilmarnock FC winning the Scottish League Cup.
The music video was shot at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park stadium and Evan was interviewed on the pitch at half-time of Kilmarnock’s recent home match against Queen of the South, in front of over 4,500 fans.
John said of Evan’s work: “The actual deadline for the creative project unit is May 2022 but Evan decided to bring it forward and pushed himself to a deadline of 18 March to capitalise on the 10th anniversary of Kilmarnock’s famous win over Celtic.
“Evan has an exceptional work ethic and he has demonstrated true entrepreneurial flair and drive to get this project to fruition. He has forged a positive and ongoing professional relationship with Kilmarnock FC's Head of Marketing. Evan pitched his idea directly to Kilmarnock Football Club and successfully negotiated access to an empty Rugby Park stadium to film his music video.”
8 April 2022
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