News: “Assume the future will be very different” — a future ready message from alumni of Nottingham College
On Tuesday 26th March, we welcomed a very special visitor back into Nottingham College, Sir Kenneth Aphunezi Olisa, the Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, many years after he first studied here.
Sir Kenneth Aphunezi Olisa is Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, and former student of Nottingham College, back when it was ‘Nottingham High Pavement Grammar School’ in the 1960s.
As a former student, Sir Ken has gone on to achieve some incredible things!
In 2016, Sir Ken was named the most influential Black Briton on the Powerlist — the annual list of the 100 most powerful people of African and African Caribbean heritage in Britain. He was also the first ever British born Black FTSE100 director, when he joined Reuters (now Thomson Reuters) in 2004.
This week, Sir Ken had a tour of City Hub, meeting lots of students and staff from across the campus.
He was then interviewed in our Digital Media studio, by students Mykyta Veselov and Christena Davis
“I am very encouraged by the calibre of student I’ve met here today at Nottingham College. There is such a buzz here! Nottingham has always been a commercial, thriving city and I implore students to be future ready, to think five, ten, even 20 years ahead about what they want to achieve and how far they can go.
— Sir Ken Olisa
Sir Ken also met two students from High Pavement, who are currently studying for their A Levels. Both Robyn Holborn (studying Film, Politics and English Language and Literature) and Angus Cheung (studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics) have conditional offers at the University of Cambridge, so will be following in the footsteps of Sir Ken Himself.
Meeting Sir Ken has definitely given me a lot more confidence, especially going into my exams. I know I can do it and it’s amazing to meet someone who is from Nottingham and has gone on to such great things.
— Robyn Holborn
The opportunity is open to anyone, whatever your background, there is always a path to get to where you want to be. Speaking to Sir Ken has just reaffirmed that as long as you care, as long as you work hard, you can be anything you want.
— Angus Cheung
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Published on:
- 27th March 2024 (4:20 PM)
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