Student Placement Awards 2020

Posted 17 March 2020

Harper Adams brought together students, family, employers and university staff to celebrate the success of 17 students and their accomplishments gained throughout their placement year in industry.

A range of prizes were awarded, capturing the variety of opportunities presented to students. These included the Development Trust Awards awarded to foundation degree agriculture students; the Agrovista Awards for BSc (Hons) Agriculture students and the Aspire Prizes for the best personal development planning across all courses.

Furthermore, the Buccleuch Estate Prize was presented to the best Rural Enterprise and Land Management placement student, and the Axworthy Cup and Robin Faccenda Prize to the highest achieving poultry industry placement.

The welcoming words were given by Lecturer and Placement Manager for Agriculture, Terry Pickthall, who commented: “Our students work with a myriad of diverse and fascinating businesses, from the small and specialist to global corporations all over the planet. Harper Adams remains virtually unique in having a compulsory placement year and it’s something we are therefore extremely proud of and passionate about.

“Placement is a partnership between our employers, students and staff and the success is a measure of the hard work and dedication from all involved. Staff, students and employers working so well together is what makes Harper Adams so special. It also sees us achieve great things like first place in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards for job prospects for four years on the run a fifth nomination for 2020 announced earlier this week.”

Annie Metcalfe, 21, from Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, was the overall winner of the Agrovista Prize for her work at Stockcroft. Working for a family-run pig contracting business, Annie went on to use her knowledge to attend a variety of events the world over. She commented: “One of the highlights of the year was spending five days at the Alltech One Ideas conference in Kentucky. I then went on to attend the European Pig Producers Congress. I learned a lot from making connections across the industry.

“I had no prior experience but I plan on staying in the industry and work towards a career in monogastric nutrition.”

Florence Turley, BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Animal Science student, was the runner up, having worked for the family Hinxden Farm Dairy. Florence is also the 2020 national Dairy Student of the Year. Third place was awarded to Grace Welling who worked at Syngenta while studying BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Crop Management.

The Buccleuch Prize, for best overall performance on placement by a Rural Enterprise and Land Management student, was awarded to Kate Howlett. Chloe Gimson, BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management, was awarded the Axworthy Cup & Robin Faccenda Prize for Best Overall Performance on Placement in the poultry industry.

Winner of the Engineering Aspire Prize was Thomas Wellsbury, 22, from Whitchurch in Shropshire. The BEng (Hons) Agricultural Engineering student gained placement success working for Muller Yoghurts and Desserts as a Continuous Improvement Process Engineer. Thomas said: “Throughout the year, I was involved in many successful projects to improve safety, product quality, factory efficiency and reduce costs within the business.

“Taking what I have learned at university and applying it in the real world was a big learning curve but a great experience. This was a new area that I had limited experience in but I found the round very rewarding, learning many useful skills along the way.”

Further Aspire Prizes were awarded to:
- Animals: Sarah Mansell, BSc (Hons) Bioveterinary Science
- Agriculture: Annie Metcalfe, BSc (Hons) Agriculture; and Daisy Green, FdSc Agriculture
- Business: Jessica England, FdSc Agri-Food Marketing with Business
- Countryside and Wildlife: Chloe Howard, BSc (Hons) Countryside and Environmental Management
- Food: Kate Pilkington, BSc (Hons) Food Technology and Product Development
- Rural Enterprise and Land Management: Jasmin Leetham, BSc (Hons) Rural Enterprise and Land Management
- Veterinary Physiotherapy: Grace Hellier, BSc (Hons) Veterinary Physiotherapy

The Development Trust Awards were presented by the Chairman of the Harper Adams Development Trust, Clive Gurney, to Lillie Franklin, Chloe Gimson and Emily Mosley, all undertaking a foundation science degree in agriculture.