A health and social care student raised more than £1,100 with a skydive to provide equipment for critically-ill newborn babies.

Farnborough College of Technology student Jodie Matthews, aged 17, took the plunge for Frimley Park Hospital’s Saving Tiny lives Appeal.

She said: “The money raised was for my local hospital so it was a cause I was particularly interested in.

“It’s always nice to give something back to the community and challenge yourself at the same time. It was an amazing experience.”

Health and social care programme manager Lesley Harden said: “Jodie really is an excellent example of a student who is doing something inspirational for other people.”

Engineering bright sparks were recognised at their college’s annual engineering awards ceremony, with female learners shining particularly brightly.

Of 11 categories at the Hartlepool College ceremony, eight were won by girls, with Kelsey Richardson and Georgina Ireland taking two each, Hannah Carr, winning one and Emily French winning three, including overall engineering student of the year.

Principal Darren Hankey said: “Each winner is a credit to the staff who steered them through their qualifications and their family and friends who gave them the support they needed. It’s excellent to see female learners following engineering courses and I’m sure Kelsey, Emily and Georgina will be an inspiration to other female learners who may wish to follow a similar route.”

College student footballers have been named Under 19 Team of the Year at the inaugural Birmingham Sports Awards 2013, following a season of trophy success.

The Birmingham Metropolitan College team were unbeaten in their last nine games and scored a hat-trick of wins, becoming West Midlands County Cup Winners, Three County League Champions and National seven-a-side champions.

Team coach Nick Heath said: “We’re all really proud of this award because it recognises the achievements of our 18 players over the last 12 months.

“Week after week, the team demonstrated a desire to play at the highest level and their hard work continued to pay off.”

Staff and students raised more than £500 for charity through a cake-filled coffee morning at their college.

Doncaster College level two and three catering students ran the event at the college’s Waterfront restaurant, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Contributions to a tombola, cake stalls, along with sweets-in-a-jar and guess-the-name competitions were organised by catering, travel and business students.

Jane Fishwick, assistant director for hospitality, travel, business and accounting said: “We chose Macmillan due to the number of lives affected by cancer.

“We have had two young learners affected in the past two years, as well as lots of family members across the staff and students. Both these students are doing well currently.”

A make-up specialist returned to her college to explain how she laid the foundation of her career.

Lydia Birch-Hampson studied level two and three beauty therapy at South Cheshire College and now works as a product specialist for Chester-based Mac make-up.

She said: “I’ve had a fantastic time after completing my college course and looking back I really appreciate what I learned at college because it has stood me in good stead.” Lydia has also used her skills at national events such as London Fashion Week and the show Dancing on Ice. She added: “Hopefully, they found the demonstrations and talk interesting. I told students the make-up industry is massively competitive, but it’s also very rewarding.”

Beauty and make-up lecturer Maxine Smith said: “Visits like this from former students inspire our current students to set their sights high.”

A West Sussex duo were in the spotlight as they designed the lighting for a promotional video for a group of session musicians.

Northbrook College theatre production students Charlie Howsego and Alex Allen worked on a live remix of Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love and the Beastie Boys’ Intergalactic.

Session guitarist Oli Corrigan, who has worked with Jessie J, said: “I can’t commend the students that worked with us enough.

“Both Alex and Charlie were in full control of the lighting setup we used for the video. They were fantastic team players and worked extremely well with our video production team.

“Charlie and Alex also had some excellent suggestions which were used in the video and they really contributed.” The video, Beyonce and Beastie Boys Live Band Remix HD, has had more than 110,000 YouTube views.

A rising star shone in an international astronomy photographer of year competition, clinching third place for his photo of the Great Nubula.

MidKent College student Samuel Copley, aged 16, from Hoo, Kent, was highly commended in his age group and won £125.

He produced an image of the cloud of gas and dust to the south of the Orion’s Belt constellation.

Samuel said: “I would like to be a professional astronomy photographer but you can’t really make a living out of it.

“It’s more of a hobby-turned-obsession for me so I was very proud to be highly commended in the competition.”

A catering student from the mountains of Nepal has scaled new heights by proving he is the best young chef in North East England.

Darlington College NVQ level three catering and hospitality student Man Thapa scooped first prize in an inter-college competition involving trainees from all over the north east.

The 20-year-old, who is originally from Bokhara, in Nepal, moved to Darlington three-and-a-half years ago, when his father retired from the Gurkhas.

Man captured the judges’ attention with his chicken chasseur, which he had just 90 minutes to prepare.

He said his dream was to one day become head chef in a top London hotel.