Graduation Day!
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Aaron and David celebrate their graduation with Stephen Marks from Supporting Communities.
The 6th July 2018 was a proud day for two of our community volunteers when they graduated from Ulster University with Commendations in the Advanced Diploma in Social Enterprise.
Aaron Thompson and David McPhillips, Office Bearers of Killynure Community Association, first enrolled on the Advanced Diploma course in 2016 after completing the full suite of Supporting Communities’ qualifications. Two years later, they have successfully graduated and are looking forward to implementing what they have learnt in their community.
Aaron and David were also jointly awarded the Podiem Award for Excellence by Bill Manson, Director, Podiem Ltd. Speaking at the event, Bill Manson said, “This year's cohort of students were excellent, but two people stood out and have been an inspiration to both learners and lecturers. This award is usually presented to one person, but we are delighted to present it jointly to Aaron and David.”
“Everything we worked on in the course we will be able to put to practical use and realise our ambitions to transform our community.”
Speaking to Supporting Communities for SCENE magazine, Aaron and David said, “We are definitely relieved to be finished the course but very pleased and proud that we have both completed a qualification at Ulster University. We would like to thank Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council and the Flax Trust for providing us with bursaries to complete the course without which we could never have hoped to attend university. We would also like to thank Stephen from Supporting Communities for his mentoring and guidance throughout the course – it was invaluable and he definitely helped to keep us calm! Everything we worked on in the course we will be able to put to practical use and realise our ambitions to transform our community.”
Stephen Marks, Training and Social Enterprise Officer for Supporting Communities remarked, “I am delighted for David and Aaron, they have both worked tremendously hard on each module and definitely put a lot of effort in. Now that they have completed their personal development journey for the time being, I look forward to seeing them implement their new Strategic Plan for their area. The real hard work starts now and Supporting Communities is happy to be able to help Killynure Community Association in the next stage of their journey.”
Congratulations are also due to Lisanelly Regeneration Group’s Siobhan McDermot and Ashley Moore for completing this course along with Supporting Communities Senior Training Officer, Aidan Kearney.
