Leading the field - graduate Callum Saxton
Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:52:00 BST
Computer Science student beats 500 others to graduate position with Yorkshire Water
SUPER successful Computing Science student Callum Saxton (pictured) was drawn to the University of Huddersfield for many reasons – including the prospect of a year’s work placement overseas in one of the world’s most glamorous and historic cities.
So it was that Callum, now 22, from Hoyland, in Barnsley, spent 12 months as a resident IT expert at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, providing vital technical back-up to some of the world’s most eminent researchers in fields such as economics, history and civilisation, law and political and social sciences.
“There were leading academics and professors from across Europe, the USA and beyond, but as extremely intelligent as they all were, they all still needed help with their computers!” says Callum.
While in Italy, he had the company of four other University of Huddersfield students – Emma Kelly, Kirsty Lewis, Sarah Milner and Paul Phillips.
“I have always wanted to work abroad and I really enjoyed the year in Florence,” says Callum. It was while he was making his choice of university, after A-levels at Barnsley College, that he attended a presentation from lecturer Dr Andrew Crampton about the European University Institute and the possibility of a placement there.
When the time came, he was successful at interview and was awarded a post, not least because he had worked hard to ensure that first-year marks for his Computing Science BSc degree were suitably impressive.
He continued in the same vein for the rest of degree course, so that his final overall score was a mark of 83.5 per cent, meaning that he is one of just 60 graduates out 4,500 in 2012 who achieved 80 per cent plus, leading to a Diamond Jubilee Award, presented by University of Huddersfield’s Chancellor, Sir Patrick Stewart.
Callum has also won a prize for his final-year project, which saw him developing a calculator that uses only Roman numerals. It was an intriguing abstract problem, he says, and might be the first of its type. Until now, calculators have invariably employed conversion to Arabic numerals at some point in the process. His supervisor was Dr Andrew Crampton.
It was at Kirk Balk School in Hoyland that Callum’s aptitude for IT first surfaced and he pursued his passion, becoming the first member of his family to attend university. Father Neil and mother Angela attended his graduation ceremony.
Now Callum, against stiff competition, has landed a full-time post with Yorkshire Water, at its Bradford HQ, under the company’s IT graduate scheme. There were around 500 applicants for just three posts and one of the other successful candidates was University of Huddersfield graduate Yasmeen Mohammed.
