Biochemistry Good Citizen Award

2019 - Ffion Jones

The 2019 Biochemistry Good Citizen Award was presented at the graduation lunch to Ffion Jones. Ffion has been involved as a class representative since beginning her studies, and has been active and diligent in raising issues from her peers to the attention of academic staff. Ffion was also an active member of Helix, the student biochemistry society, and became a Peer Assisted Study Session leader. Peer assisted study sessions are weekly student-led study sessions where students can ask questions about course material and student life. We are also grateful to Ffion for volunteering her time and experience as a student ambassador for the School during many of the Open Days and Visit Days, being enthusiastic and welcoming to hundreds of students and families who visited Biochemistry.

In addition to her contributions to the student life within the School of Biochemistry, Ffion is also a talented violinist who performed with the University symphony and chamber orchestra.

2018 - Madison Honey

Whilst managing to attain a 1st throughout the three years of her Biochemistry degree, Madison was the course rep and communicated ideas from the students to our teaching staff. According to Madison, “seeing changes being implemented in the short and long term was a very satisfying feeling”.

In addition to that, Madison spent much of her free time participating in student-led volunteering activities she found via the volunteering fair. Throughout her first and second year, she volunteered monthly with Pitstop, a charity that takes teenagers with learning difficulties out in day trips. She was also involved with Barrow, a charity that takes students, like Madison, to the Callington Road Hospital where they socialise and play games with the patients. She also took part in charity events for Marie Curie, which offers support and care to people with terminal illnesses, and volunteered on the Bristol Elm Tree Farm with the Brandon Trust, where she provided support and training to adults with learning disabilities and autism. Madison told us that the organisations she liked volunteering with were “those which benefited the local community”, which were also “a good way to meet like-minded students outside her course”.

Madison then became the project coordinator for Jolidays in her third year, where she organised an adventure trip for young carers aged 8-12. She says she “was a bit apprehensive that some small part could go wrong”, so she “had to develop her organisational skills pretty quickly!” Madison believes that learning to prioritise tasks and balancing the time dedicated to lectures, spending time in the lab and volunteering was something she found really useful. Although she had so much work to do, she feels that she didn’t have to sacrifice her social life too much.