Art & Design/Media Industry Day
This January, Joseph Chamberlain College hosted its ‘Art & Design/Media Industry Day’, where multiple speakers from a wide array of fields visited the college to educate and inspire their students. The college welcomed Maurice Whittingham, Sid Harth, Allison Hinds, Asad Awais, Ken Rawe, and Jim Washbrook.
Maurice Whittingham discussed his incredible journey into fashion and taught the college’s students the importance of networking and having an online presence, even offering opportunities for work experience to the students. He detailed where he started, up to his achievements of being published in Vogue magazine and also dressing the Bull at the bullring. Maurice educated and inspired the college’s students, stating, “Just try your best. Only you know how hard you’ve tried. Believe in yourself.” One student at the college said that Maurice’s talk “was inspiring and useful as I want to go into fashion design. It’s even led to the opportunity for work experience.” Another student, Mohammed Ahad Diyan, said, “‘You’ve got to believe’ was a quote from Maurice that stuck with me as many don’t believe in themselves. The fact that the speakers were all self-taught was very inspiring too.”
Sid Harth detailed how he became a freelance photographer and discussed his inspiring journey, how he started photography with a camera as old as himself and created a business from the ground up after moving to England. He taught the college’s students to keep pushing and to believe in themselves, as well as to “keep learning and keep curious,” as he did to get to where he is today. Sid stated that “It was a beautiful experience, and I really wish I could have studied at this college.” A student at Joseph Chamberlain College, Sarah, said, “Sid gave me interesting tips about work experience.” Another said, “It was good that he spoke about networking, as that’s a key skill in life.”
Allison Hinds and Asad Awais from the BBC spoke about the various apprenticeship and career opportunities that the BBC offers and how the college’s students can apply for these opportunities after college, including valuable tips on developing a portfolio to make an application stand out more. Asad also detailed his inspiring journey, coming to England as an asylum seeker before joining the BBC. He discussed his journey of moving from Manchester to Birmingham for the BBC apprenticeship and the challenges he overcame during that. He inspired the college’s students, telling them to create as many opportunities as possible and to build a portfolio before leaving college to help them stand out. At the end of the talk, he said that it was a “good chance to give back to the people who are in the position that I was in last year.”
Ken Rawe from mac-group construction is a project manager for mac-group and is leading the team responsible for building Joseph Chamberlain College’s brand-new teaching facility. With more students than ever at the college, Joseph Chamberlain College decided to develop a new teaching space, which led them to work with mac-group in order to make this a reality. Ken discussed construction as a whole, what it involves, how to get into it, and the details of the college’s new building project. Ken educated the students on the various things that have been done to bring this project together.
Jim Washbrook from AND Digital discussed the many aspects of software/website development and everything that goes into the user’s experience. He discussed the various ways in which they strive to give the customer the exact product they want and how the college’s students can do the same if they choose to pursue a career in this field. Jim also detailed the various graduate and junior roles available at AND Digital and how the college’s students can apply to them.
Talba, a student at the college, said that the day as a whole gave them a “better understanding of different career paths.” Another of the college’s students, Deemah, said “Their stories and backgrounds were really interesting. I learned about it being okay to make mistakes at the start of your career to learn from.”
Both staff and students at Joseph Chamberlain College would like to express their gratitude and thank all of the inspiring speakers that visited their college to educate and motivate their students further.