So tonight was the Student Led Teaching Awards. Hundreds of students nominated loads of staff in different categories, highlighting the best of Bangor.
I my line of work, I spend all of my time focusing on what can be improved. So sometimes it can be really refreshing to take a step backwards, and contextualise things by recognising that Bangor is full of staff who are dedicated to making students time in Bangor the best it can be.
What I don’t want to do in this blog post is blather on about the importance of these awards in creating aspirations that raise teaching across the university, or wax lyrical about how fantastic it is for the Union to be seen as so central to the University. What I do want to do is say how humbled I was tonight. Every round of applause carried the same conviction. When we recognised two exceptional members of staff who had sadly passed away this year, and students from our brass band played one’s favourite piece of music, the was a palpable sense of poignancy in the room. For me, the whole thing was summed up in the words of Nigel Brown, a lecturer, and a keen supporter of the Treborth gardens. He was described by students as a living legend, and he asked to say a few words. He explained that he got to work with the two most amazing things in the world – plants and people. Every day, he waters the most beautiful plants in the world, and every day he got to work with the most beautiful minds – those of his students.
Did I ever mention I have the best job in the world?
antonyjcbutcher 