He did it….. Well done to our Portsmouth Recruitment Executive James Cutting who completed Tough Mudder on Saturday 8th June 2013 at Matterly Bowl, Winchester.

James said ‘This has been a massive personal milestone for me, 4 stone lost in total, and going from being unable to run for 200meters without needing a break to running 12 miles and clearing 21 obstacles. The obstacles were excellent fun (except the ice bath). From 15ft drops into a plunge bath, to crawling through tiny waterlogged tunnels, and I would urge anyone to give it a go. I have already signed up for next year and will be taking on the Great South Run as well in October this year.

I never thought that I could actually do something like this, and a mile in to the course I have to say, I questioned my ability to finish. However you can never underestimate the power of perseverance! You really are capable of anything!’

James and 3As would like thank everyone who has supported the efforts for Cancer Research with already £1000 being donated so far. Anyone who would still like to sponsor James having conquered in an impressive 2 hours 47 minutes you can do so at.: www.justgiving.com/JamesCutting2309

Students from the NiTP (National IT Partnership) Academy based at South Staffordshire College’s Tamworth Campus have been shortlisted in a National Apprenticeship Scheme initiative. The College works with NiTP to offer Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeships for students wishing to compete for jobs at the higher end of the industry.

The ‘Can you hack it as an apprentice?’ design challenge aims to help increase the number of young people starting Apprenticeships and respond to employers calling on young people to improve the quality of their Apprenticeship applications.

Abby Jackson (19) from Media Links Online, Tyler Brown Jones (17) from The Rich Media Company, Daniel Lawley (18) from Cadlogic and Joe Hardy (20) from Risual, entered the Facebook Challenge, an initiative to design and develop a brand new App or game for the National Apprenticeships Service.

Abbey, Tyler, Daniel and Joe decided to enter the competition under the team name of C7 Productions and spent time planning, designing and developing their concept App in order to produce a specification. Aptly named ‘Professor Wizard’, the App will be an in depth guide to applying for an Apprenticeship based on creating a profile to help users choose their career path and will include an interview quiz to help people prepare for interviews.

A panel of judges from the creative industries has selected a shortlist of the five best ideas, with each developer receiving £3,000 to develop their design into a prototype beta version. Following testing, the most successful developer will receive a further £10,000 to develop their App or game into a fully functioning product.

With the £3,000 funding they receive, the students will create a beta version of their App to go into testing in late June and the challenge will culminate in a prototype Facebook App or game being launched via the National Apprenticeship Service’s Facebook page in August.