The chief minister has presented awards to successful engineering students.
University College Isle of Man (UCM) celebrated its first- and second-year engineering students at Hills Meadow, Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre (AMTC), with Alfred Cannan and industry representatives.
Now in its sixth year, the awards evening is an occasion which highlights the hard work and high-level skills that engineering and manufacturing students develop through their studies.
Dave Hester, managing director of Swagelok presented the ‘Best Overall Student 2022’ award to Polly Watson, for her consistent high level of work and ongoing commitment to her studies.
John Cashin, engineering assistant programme manager, said: ‘We are proud of Polly, and all of our students’ academic successes this year, and as we have such a close partnership with the local manufacturing sector, it’s great to have representatives from industry here, celebrating the achievements of the island’s future engineers.
‘As a department, we will continue to strive to improve and develop the provision at Hills Meadow, to support the challenges industry faces and to keep the island competitive in the global manufacturing market.’
The evening also saw the chief minister presenting the following awards to successful students:
- Best manual milling machinist: Jack Burgess
- Best manual turning machinist: Louis Creer
- Best CNC milling machinist: Renz Dadia
- Best CNC Turning machinist: Polly Watson
Cash prizes for this year’s awards were donated by ACE (Awareness in Careers in Engineering), supported by local engineering and manufacturing businesses: Swagelok, Strix Technology, Triumph Integrated Systems, Target Tools, Manx Utilities and RLC-Ronaldsway.
Final-year student, Bliss Murtagh, who has secured employment with Swagelok, said: ‘Traditionally, engineering can be seen as a primarily male-dominated field, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience of studying at the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre, and times are changing, there are more and more females getting into the manufacturing sector, and I am very excited to start my future with Swagelok.’