Class of 2016 honoured in graduation ceremony and reception

The School of Modern Languages held its 2016 Graduation ceremony on 14 July 2016 at St David’s Hall, Cardiff.

Over 400 people attended the ceremony which was followed by a post-graduation reception in the grounds of the University’s Main Building. Guests enjoyed champagne and strawberries while they mingled with staff and celebrated students’ achievements.

Head of School Professor Claire Gorrara welcomed the guests to Cardiff and congratulated all graduands for their hard work during the years that they had studied at the School.

Following her speech, Professor Gorrara went on to present a number of prizes to both undergraduate and postgraduate students who had been recognised within a variety of areas. They were as follows:

Undergraduate categories and winners
Year Abroad Essay 2014-15
Robert Lodge for his essay, ‘Charlie Hebdo, Défenseur de notre liberté’

Mollie Williams Prizes
For distinction in oral proficiency in German
Sorcha Thompson & Cerian Richardson

Best performance in written German language papers in Final Year exams
Sarah Alton

Best performance by a Final Year student in German option modules
Alexia Cowley

Marika Gillespie Prize
Best UG Joint Honours German dissertation
Cerian Richardson

MLANG Prize
Best UG Single Honours German dissertation
Lucy Elin Owen

Remo Catani Prize
Best ab initio performance in Italian
Chloe Hathway

Olwen Reckert Prize
Scholarship for Spanish Postgraduate study
Robert Lodge and Kelsey Hibbitt

Postgraduate categories and winners
Best Dissertation
Charlotte Walmsley

Best Annotated Translation Project
Rebecca Williams

This year’s graduation saw the introduction of the ‘Most Inspiring Teacher of the Year’ award. Students nominated staff for their enthusiasm, wealth of knowledge and passion for their subjects. When the results were in Cathy Molinaro and Anna Carrasco were joint winners of the Undergraduate category while Cristina Marinetti was the winner of the Postgraduate category.

Cathy was described by students as always having a smile on her face (even when teaching grammar on a Monday morning!) while Ana was nominated for her supportive nature which encouraged some students to continue their language learning when they were finding it difficult. Cristina was recognised for her professionalism, passion and patience. In addition to the winners of each category, commendations were also given to Carlos Sanz Mingo and Nadia Swanwick who were praised for their sense of humour and enthusiasm respectively.

We hope all students and their family members enjoyed our celebrations and we wish the graduating class of 2016 the very best for the future.