20th October 2017
Five years ago the Technical Skills Academy, a £14m joint project between Barking & Dagenham College and the Borough of Barking and Dagenham was officially opened on 18th October, 2012 by Ed Balls, the former MP.
Since then, the Technical Skills Academy, has increased its courses and now has some 500 students studying a range of technical and vocational courses for 16-18 year olds.
Exactly 5 years to the day, on Wednesday 18th October 2017, the Academy held its 5th birthday celebration. Special guests included Cllr Cameron Geddes and Barking & Dagenham College’s Principal and CEO Yvonne Kelly.
Guests heard about the positive effect the Academy has had on its students past and present through speeches given by the students themselves. These included the inspirational stories of two alumni, Jephta and Julius. Jephta Asamoah is a business student who is deaf and has been very successful whilst at College (gaining work experience in Prague) and since leaving the College, managing to secure a summer internship.
Former IT student Julius Razanauskas also spoke; Julius began at the Technical Skills Academy with no GCSEs at all; he has now gone on to study IT at Queen Mary University of London and is currently taking a year out to work on his entrepreneurial IT business.
