The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Student’ s five-star rating at awards
ADundee teenager has spoken of how she made a nerveracking address to hundreds of people as she scooped a top national award.
Chelsea Elliot, 17, beat off competition from thousands of mentees across the country to be named mentoring charity Career Ready’s student of the year at an event in London.
The Kirkton resident was last year mentored by Sleeperz Hotel general manager Manny Barber, who was so impressed that he offered her a job at the Dundee city centre venue.
Since our article in The Courier in November 2021, Chelsea, who completes her
final exam at Morgan Academy at the end of May, has already been promoted from receptionist to groups coordinator at Sleeperz.
After being nominated by Manny, she picked up her UK award at the Career Ready Awards ceremony at Drapers’ Hall in the City of London.
A total of 12 students from across the UK were named student of the year.
Chelsea said: “To win the award I had to go through an online judging process where I told my story.
“I was then lucky enough to be invited to the awards ceremony in London, which was both the most exciting and the most nerve-racking experience of my life.
“I had never been to a dinner quite like it. I then had the most challenging experience whereby I had
to talk on stage in front of hundreds of people.
“This really challenged me but I’m so proud that I did it.
“After winning the award I immediately sent a text to Manny and he expressed his joy to me. It was a great feeling.”
During their time on the Career Ready programme, Chelsea undertook a paid four-week internship at Sleeperz Hotel and received one-to-one mentoring from Manny. She also took part in a series of skills masterclasses hosted by local employers.
The student of the year award, sponsored by Foxtons, recognises students who have excelled and developed valuable career skills.
“I have been promoted to groups coordinator, which is something I never saw
myself doing and if it wasn’t for Career Ready I would never have this opportunity,” Chelsea added.
“I am thrilled to still be involved with Career Ready and can’t wait to progress further and hopefully be a mentor myself.”
In our earlier feature, Chelsea said she was previously lacking confidence but had been transformed by the mentoring experience.
She said: “If it wasn’t for the mentoring programme I’d probably be working at a not-so-great job. I have made so many new friends from it and it has created so many opportunities or me.”
Manny said: “Developing Chelsea’s confidence has definitely given her a different view of her career.”