Three students are being honoured this week in recognition of the contributions they’ve made to the University community, to the local community and to the world around them. The winners of the Outstanding Student Contribution Awards are receiving their awards during degree ceremonies this week.

This year, three awards have been made, to Lawrence Green, Oliver Newth and Bianca Nobilo, pictured here with the Registrar, Ken Sloan.

Lawrence Green was nominated for his exceptional work on Nightline. Lawrence’s tenure as Student Coordinating Officer saw volunteer numbers increase by 40%, improvements to the ways volunteers are supported and has ensured the organisation’s continued growth and reach at both University and national level. As a volunteer, Lawrence has completed 45 fourteen-hour shifts and volunteered over 600 hours directly to Nightline’s service.

Oliver Newth was nominated for his entrepreneurial flair and dedicated volunteering. In addition to running his own graphic design company alongside his studies, Oliver was responsible for an impressive Lectures App which improved the distribution of teaching materials and the learning experience of hundreds of students. In addition to this, Oliver took part in Warwick in Africa this year, which enables Maths and Engineering students to teach maths in schools across Africa. Oliver set up extra sessions for his Ghanaian students after normal lessons, used a wide range of games, activities and teaching strategies to engage and enthuse his pupils, and is returning to Ghana this summer to provide leadership to the new Warwick in Africa group.

Bianca Nobilo was nominated for her work setting up a new charity, the Student Heart Health Trust. Following the devastating experience of losing several close friends to cardiovascular diseases, Bianca was driven to find a way of increasing awareness of heart conditions and encouraging young people to adopt healthy lifestyles. Having successfully raised over £7000, Bianca recently hired cardiac testing specialists and provided the opportunity for 200 Warwick students to receive a free ECG heart screening.

Short podcasts profiling each of the winners will be made available on the University’s website over the summer.

Ken Sloan, Registrar, and member of the awarding panel, said:

This is the first time we have run a University-level award of this type and have been delighted by the response. The panel had a very difficult task selecting three, because all of the nominations demonstrated the extraordinary work that our students do alongside their studies and they should all be very proud of their achievements.