A FORMER Prince Henry’s High School student has been awarded a special prize at this year’s University of Gloucestershire graduation ceremony.
Ecology and Environmental Science graduate Samantha Perks received the Biosciences prize, which celebrates the graduating Honours student with the most outstanding performance in Biosciences.
Samantha works in the Cotswolds as a field surveyor for Grass Roots Ecology Limited and is planning to become an ecologist when she completes her master’s at the university.
She received the award in front of an audience of a thousand people at the Cheltenham Racecourse last Thursday, November 22.
“I feel a little overwhelmed having won the prize and certainly had no expectation of achieving anything like it when I started the degree,” she said.
“I’ve had an absolutely amazing experience studying the course, the lecturers are all great and they have offered us incredible fieldwork opportunities, which has opened my eyes to how important the field of ecology is in the world today.
“My University of Gloucestershire experience overall has been amazing, I was a little apprehensive about leaving a full time job and returning to study but it’s honestly the best decision I could have made.”
The ceremony also saw an Honorary Fellowship awarded to Susan Passmore, who has worked in theatre arts education for the last 40 years, and founded the Performing Arts degree at the University of Gloucestershire with Sheila Mander in 2007.
She is responsible for training some of the leading British theatre artists and dancers working in the industry today.
