04 September 2009

IPC Students Receive Certificates of Excellence

A new IPC Initiative to Promote Academic Excellence

By Emu Izaki and Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

All the award winning students with IPC President Prof. Wayne Edwards

Jirapa Lertsinsongserm, a graduate student, giving advice on how to enjoy life fully at IPC

A special award ceremony was held for the first time at IPC on Wednesday, 26th August. A Certificate of Excellence was awarded to each IPC student who had achieved the top mark in a paper during Term 1, as long as the grade was at least an A- (80% or more).

More than 50 awards were presented at the ceremony. The students were called onto the stage individually by their deans and presented with their Certificates by IPC President Prof. Wayne Edwards. Some of the students achieved awards for more than one paper. The applause that filled the room on these occasions was extra enthusiastic.

In his speech, Prof. Wayne Edwards stated that this ceremony was a very special occasion, "I don't think in the past 20 years we have recognized our students in this way. I think it's really important to do so." He also encouraged the students to share this achievement with their families and also to thank the faculty members, who had helped them achieve their excellent grades.

Invited to this ceremony was a graduate student who is now the owner of a Thai restaurant in Palmerston North. She is Jirapa Lertsinsongserm, from Thailand, who graduated from IPC in 2006. As she shared her experience of studying at IPC, Jirapa also gave the students some advice on how to enjoy life fully at IPC. She commented that when students first came to Palmerston North and found that it "shut at 5pm," they were often puzzled and did not know what to do with their free time. She told them to get involved in the kinds of things that Kiwis do. "When you are in your (own) country, you might not have time to do these things. You just need to get out and learn new and different things." She added this was also an excellent way to improve their spoken English.

The same ceremony will be held again after Term 2 results are known. All students are encouraged to do their best this term to achieve the highest academic grades they can.

For more photos, please visit: Students Award Ceremony 2009 Photo Albums

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