Wakefield Council’s Tourism team recently held a virtual work placement week for Wakefield College’s Level 3 Year 1 Media students. The students were given various tasks to showcase their local area within Wakefield, which included being “Digital Editors” for the week writing articles, taking photographs, and creating short videos/animations that showed off parts of Wakefield, focusing on their local areas due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Wakefield College’s Work Placement Officer, Helen Law, said “I am thrilled with how well this virtual work placement week has gone with Wakefield Council. Our Media students have worked brilliantly and engaged well throughout the week. They have produced some fantastic examples of work to showcase their corners of Wakefield.”
“I would like to say a big thank you to the Tourism and Visitor Manager at Wakefield Council in particular, for how well she has planned the virtual week with us and for the support that she has given to our students throughout. It has been a real success.”
Students submitted feedback on their virtual week with all proving to have fully enjoyed the experience: “I enjoyed it because we wrote articles and took photos of our area.”
“I enjoyed it because it was fun to do the tasks and I felt good about doing the work on time.” “I learned that journalism is something that I may want to go into.”
“I enjoyed going out exploring and finding new places to take photos which are really close to where I live.”
“I really enjoyed the week and the activities because they have been fun and engaging, they have also kept me busy through the week.” Cllr Jacquie Speight, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “It is really important to us to engage with young people and to support them in their education and in developing their skills.
“We were very pleased to work with the students who greatly impressed us with the standard of their work. We are really pleased that some of their projects and pictures will be featured on the new Experience Wakefield website when it relaunches later this year.
“The website is a great place to showcase their skills, as it’s an essential part of promoting all aspects of tourism and to inform residents and visitors across the region and the UK about the fantastic culture, arts, and leisure opportunities that we and partners in the district offer.”