I’ve been lucky enough to gain a President’s Award from Manchester University. I could go on further, but the press release from the University seems to From Manchester University

Students awarded £10,000 scholarships from The University of Manchester

NINE students have been awarded prestigious £10,000 a year Scholarships to study at The University of Manchester.

The awards are reserved for ‘the best of the best’. Only the very highest academic credentials are considered, with eligibility depending not only on at least three “A” grades at A-level, including grade “A” in every module, but also on the results of a “Thinking Skills Assessment,” a special examination and an interview.

In addition, the award holders have demonstrated personal qualities indicating that they have the potential to make distinctive contributions to University and the wider community.

The University of Manchester wants to strengthen its reputation as a preferred destination for many of the best and brightest students from across the UK and throughout the world. This new President’s Awards programme of up to ten generous, highly prestigious scholarships is one element in a range of programmes designed to encourage outstanding students to come to Manchester, irrespective of their capacity to pay.

The President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Gilbert, in congratulating the new President’s Scholars, said how important it was for one of the country’s foremost research institutions also to be seen to be investing heavily in creating opportunities for students. Professor Gilbert said: “We want the brightest young people in the UK increasingly to see Manchester as a logical and rewarding choice, just as we want a wider scholarship programme to ensure that no able student is denied a place in Manchester because of an inability to pay.”

Accompanying these Awards, Manchester has a multi-million pound programme of widening participation scholarships and bursaries reserved for able students from low-income families.

The University also invests very considerable time and resources into a range of widening participation initiatives concentrating on the needs of primary and secondary schools and their pupils in educationally deprived areas of Greater Manchester.

The nine inaugural Award holders are:

• David Appleyard, 18, from Skircoat Green in Halifax (BSc Management)
• Thomas Esler, 19, from By-Cupar in Fife (BA Classics)
• Katie Maltman, 18, from Ilkley in West Yorks (MB ChB Medicine)
• Philip Bull, 18, from Meir Park in Stoke-on-Trent (MPhys Physics with Astronomy)
• Rupert Gaze, 35, from Stalybridge (MB ChB Medicine with foundation year)
• Christopher Devlin, 19, from Limavady in Londonderry (BA Law with Politics)
• Ruth Watkinson, 19, from West Bridgford in Nottingham (BSc Biochemistry with industrial experience)
• Kiran Horwich, 18, from Ealing in London (BA History)
• Laura Roddis, 18, from Wrexham in North Wales (BSc Speech and Language Therapy)

It’s a really busy time for me at the moment. I’ve had a fantastic summer so far - visiting Austria and Germany as well as going to New Wine for a week. I’ve also been setting up Our Stock Works and working on other personal web design projects.

So what’s up next? Well I’ve just finished my A-Level education, which means I’m off to university next year. I’m going to Manchester University to study a BSc in Management. This is a three year course, which should be really interesting. I’m hoping to build on the Business and Management qualifications and experience I have so far, and really further myself in that area. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and getting some quality teaching.

I’ll be staying in university halls at a place called Dalton Ellis. They seem like a really nice place to live, with lots of facilities such as tennis and squash courts, a snooker room and, of course, the local bar. It’s in an area of Manchester called Victoria campus, around 0.7 miles from the centre. I’m really looking forward to moving there. Whilst I’m sure I’ll miss home, It’ll be a great experience and another step further forward in my life!

I can’t believe it’s a year since I started at Greenhead. I had an amazing first year, and I’m looking forward to the next one. I go back tomorrow, and have had a thoroughly enjoyable holiday. What is very strange, is that this is my second and final year. I’m sure that when my time there is finished I’ll wish I could have stayed for longer.

That said, I’ll look to the positive side that I’m only halfway through my time there! This year I’m continuing to study Computer and Dual AVCE Business, and am looking forward to it.

This is a copy of an essay/article I’ve just written for Computing, at college:

Mice have now become something we take for granted when using a computer; however it took a long time for them to be widely adopted. Given that people naturally point at things — usually before they speak — it is surprising that it took so long for a good pointing device to develop. The idea of a “mouse” was originally developed in the 60’s, however a real, working mouse was not developed until much later on.

When computers were originally developed, they did not have a graphical user interface. They often operated on command lines, just requiring text input. It was a long time before even arrow keys were implemented.

(more…)

College work is seeming to mount up at the moment, and I’ve got a backlog of things to do. I imagine I’ll be working pretty hard for the next couple of days. Business coursework, and computing coursework (Terry’s Turkeys, cringe) are all fairly important to get done.

On top of that, I’m trying to get the next version of this blog online, sort out www.stylesuites.com and manage a few extra hosting clients. No rest for the wicked.

Lots of things happening at the moment:

StyleSuites have just introduced advertising payment for parts of the site - might help to fund the dedicated server a little:

You may have noticed some changes of the advertising layout/structure on the site recently. These have been made to streamline the adverts on the site, and to try to show relevant content on each page.

We also are now offering the opportunity to advertise on StyleSuites, in a number of different locations. Prices start from - 5.00 per month. Please contact us for more information.

Bear in mind, we have an average of 7 people online at any one time, have over 10,000 members, and have served well over 20 million requests since the site went online.

Going to the cinema tomorrow night to see Open Water - looks like it should be a good film. Also, Greenhead have organised a party on Monday night, so I’ll be going to that and staying over at Doddy’s house. He had a driving lesson today actually, strange to think that people in my year are starting to drive! Greenhead is brilliant, but I can see how fast the next two years are going to fly by.