Graduates Night of Nights

(Click here to view all the pictures from this event)

A total of 126 students graduated in all three courses offered by TAFE NSW. Of these, 44 graduands along with their families and friends attended this prestigious event. Many of the graduands travelled from all around Australia and a large contingent also came across the Tasman from New Zealand to celebrate this occasion. As well as certificates, there were also presentations of Diplomas and various Course Awards among which were the prestigious TAFE NSW State Medals.

The NSW TAFE State Medal is awarded to the student with the highest average mark in the State in an approved course. This award is considered by TAFE NSW to be the epitome of outstanding academic achievement. This year there were no medals in Optical Technology as there were insufficient students in the course to justify an award.

In the case of Optical Dispensing, there were two courses that ran concurrently - Course 1853 and Course 18278. When there are two courses within the same subject, each course can justify offering a medal respectively - while rare, this has occurred a few times in the past. However for the first time ever, TAFE NSW had tied winners. Two students in course 18278 were declared equal first.... As such in 2009, rather than a presentation of one medal, TAFE NSW was presenting three. Two State Medals were presented to students of OTEN and one to a Sydney Institute student.

Cecelia Cilesio, the Director of Education at TAFE Western Sydney Institute-OTEN, explained that the TAFE NSW State Medal was a significant award. "It is the single highest honour awarded to students by TAFE NSW."

"There are only approximately 150 state medals given out each year from a pool of approximately 500,000 students, which equates to approximately one medal given out per 3,333 students," he said.

Ms. Celesio explained that there are several accomplishments a student has to make in order to win one of the prestigious TAFE NSW awards:

• 1. The student must have achieved the highest average mark in the state for all assessable modules
• 2. The Student must have had no failures throughout the course
• 3. The course must have been completed with at least a Distinction grade
• 4. The course must have more than 50 students
• 5. And finally, much the amusement of the audience, Ms. Celesio revealed that he student must have no outstanding fees.

The current TAFE NSW Medal design features an image of the sun, the moon and a hand to sum up everything TAFE NSW stands for. The sun represents higher intellect and knowledge, the moon represents creative thinking and intuition, and the hand represents physical extension of ideas into action.

The Winners of the TAFE NSW State Medal for Optical Dispensing were:

• Course 1853 - Julia Taylor (OTEN)
• Course18278 equal first  - Victoria Allen (OTEN)
•  Course18278 equal first - Andrew Yu (Sydney Institute)

The OTEN Optical Dispensing Course prize winners for 2009 were as follows:

• Optical Dispensing: Stage 1: Krystle Thomson
• Optical Dispensing: Stage 2: Victoria Allen
• Practical Optical Dispensing: Victoria Allen
• Course Prize 1827: Julia Taylor
• Course Prize 18278: Victoria Allen
• Achievement Award: Anna Pritchard

The Sydney Institute Price Winner for 2009:

• Course Prize 18278: Andrew Yu

There was another prestigious award presented on the night by the Australian Dispensing Opticians Association (ADOA), which comprises of all the optical dispensing bodies in Australia. ADOA promotes continuing education and presents the ADOA NSW Award to recognise the work and achievements that have been made by individuals to strengthen the position of optical dispensing.

The winner of this award for 2009 was Gary Wood, who is Relieving Educational Program Manager, Training and Education Support, TAFE NSW Industry Skills Unit, for his work on units of competence in optical dispensing and technology. In particular, his work with the optical industry and the National Skills Council in establishing the current optical training packages.