The Enactus Bedfordshire leadership team, a group of dedicated volunteers working on community empowerment projects, received the award from the Vice Lord-Lieutenant, Colonel Colin Mason at the University’s Student Experience awards held last week (8 June).

The group initially developed their innovative ‘Rewriting Fate’ project in response to the needs of the emerging Roma community in Luton and created the project aimed at improving the language, literacy and employability skills of disadvantaged individuals from the Roma community.

The project has now expanded to meet the needs of a range of non-Roma migrants in Luton and is able to support seven different languages (Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Russian, Mandarin, Albanian and Portuguese).

Paul Harrison, Enactus University Adviser from the Careers and Employability Service  at the University said:  “It is fantastic that the work of this group in the community has been recognised.

“At Bedfordshire, Enactus provides a platform for outstanding university students, to team up and make a difference to the local community.”

Each year the group sets out to attract first year students to ensure sustainability and longevity for the team. This approach has been very successful with it recently picking up a top ten position at the Enactus national finals beating teams from other universities as far afield as Warwick, Newcastle and Plymouth.

Vice Lord-Lieutenant, Colonel Colin Mason said: “Enactus is an extraordinarily talented group which has embarked on a project to enrich Bedfordshire community life.

“Broadly, Enactus reflects the work of the Lord-Lieutenant, Helen Nellis, and her Deputy Lieutenants. Having studied the students’ projects, the Lord-Lieutenant was delighted to select the Group for the annual award.”

The HM Lord-Lieutenant’s Community Engagement award was the culmination of a day of celebrations marking the achievements of staff and students at the University.

The awards celebrate students who give up their time to support others to achieve their ambitions and staff who show their dedication to student learning through their creativity and commitment.

This includes Guy Smith named Student of the Year, for his ability to enhance the lives of both staff and students; while Kate Ironside a Senior Lecturer in Journalism who won the Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Student Experience award.

Kate’s students lined up to nominate her and to thank Kate for her support while studying at the University. They said:  “Kate was there to pick me up, dust me off and support me through thick and thin.”

The awards also recognised the success of graduates once they have left University such as Gavin O’Brien named as Alumnus of the Year. Gavin is the owner of local production company Clearhead but always has time to support student development and has worked tirelessly to support the development of new courses from the perspective of a future employer.

Vice Chancellor Bill Rammell said: “Our nominations tell the story of a learning community with a shared goal to change lives. And I am hugely proud of everyone here today who has been shortlisted for an award. I recognise that it represents months and years of hard work and sacrifice.”