When Nada Tappouni decided to leave her 11 year career in banking she knew it would be a challenge, but wanted a career that would benefit others.
Three years later and mature student Nada admits that the radiography degree programme has been especially testing for her, not least because English is not her first language. This, she says, made academic writing and learning anatomy and physiology in English "quite demanding".
But according to her tutors and placement team Nada has risen to the challenge. Last month her achievements were recognised when Gill Dolbear, President of the Society and College of Radiographers, presented her with The Canterbury Christ Church University Agfa Student of the Year Prize.
The award celebrates each radiography cohort's achievements inside and out of the classroom. The winner is picked for outstanding academic achievement, overcoming adversity and applying themself beyond the confines of the programme.
In her speech Gill commented that as Nada’s link tutor at placement for most of the programme, she has seen Nada blossom from "a fairly nervous first year student, who asked many questions of many people, into someone who is a now a confident and competent practitioner."
According to Gill, Nada stood out to the award judges for several reasons, one of which was her work as part of an interprofessional team of students who visited Kerala in India and ‘buddied’ students from other professional pathways within a hospital environment.
On her return from India, Nada gave several presentations to other year groups to encourage students to take advantage of this amazing experience. She explains: "I found this trip very inspiring and it made me want to think about extending my practice to other areas of the world later in my career."
Nada also worked hard as a Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) leader, successfully supporting first year students within the university environment, plus informally peer mentoring students on placement. The placement lead commented that Nada was "always a student who could be relied upon to volunteer to help in supporting other year groups of students when required."
Since graduating, Nada has secured a 0.8WTE post at Somerfield Private Hospital in Maidstone which she is enjoying. She said: "I like the fact that I am able to experience the wide variety of modalities available in this hospital setting and I feel this is supporting my learning as a newly qualified radiographer."
She is also working one day per week for the NHS at the Sevenoaks Hospital and feels that this is a nice mix of both NHS and private employment.
Accepting the award, Nada thanked the tutors and clinical staff for all their support over the last three years, saying they have always been available when she has required them. As a mature student, she said her family have also been very supportive.
She added: "I feel that this is just the beginning of my lifelong learning journey and I hope to return to Canterbury Christ Church University to enrol on post graduate courses in the near future. In particular I am interested in ultrasound imaging and hopefully will be able to take this further in my career development."
Join now
