Graduation award-winner Jack experiences lightbulb moment on HNC in Engineering course
We all have lightbulb moments in life. For Jack Somerville, his could not have been any more literal.
It came to him in a York College Engineering workshop and confirmed that he had made the right decision to change his educational and career pathway.
Jack did Biology, Chemistry and Maths A Levels at school, before spending a year at university studying Biochemistry.
He opted not to return, however, for his second year and, instead, secured a Quality Engineering apprenticeship with Severfield in Dalton, neat Thirsk.
The company – the UK’s largest specialist structural steelwork group – sent Jack out on day release over a three-year period to study our Level 4 HNC in Engineering course, where he experienced that defining flash of inspiration.
“When I was at uni and in sixth form, there was a lot of theoretical stuff but, at College, there was a lot of practical work, like fault-finding with circuits and I found that was really interesting,” he pointed out. “I’d not done any electrical work before I came to College, but my apprenticeship is all about looking for defects in welds, so that fault-finding side of the course was really good and helpful to my role,” he explained.
“We focussed a lot on that in the second year and I enjoyed that hands-on way of learning. It’s a pretty good moment when you're working on the gates of a circuit and see that light come on!”
Jack quickly proved himself a bright spark on the course, too, leading to him being presented with the Institute of Technology Outstanding Achievement Award at our 2026 Graduation Ceremony in York Minster.
Understandably, he has no regrets, now, about his choice to reassess his vocational plans.
“I realised uni wasn’t for me and just went into the normal world of work and applied for the apprenticeship,” he declared. “It was a bit of a pivot going into Engineering from Biochemistry, but I liked the idea of learning and earning at the same time and I find Engineering really interesting.
“There's a bit of science involved in it as well and quite a lot of maths, so it was kind of up my alley.”
He added that the standard of tuition he has received at York College and the quality of facilities in the Engineering department helped complement his workplace learning journey.
“The tutors are really good and have all got experience in the industry,” he pointed out. “That's really helpful because, you can ask them a question about work and they’ll know the answer.
“The pneumatic lab is also great with all the pneumatic actuators and stuff. There's quite a lot of paperwork at work as well, which going to College helps with in terms of the writing we have to do for the course.”
To graduate and receive an award at York Minster – on his first-ever visit inside the world-famous historic cathedral – was pretty special, too, with Jack adding: “Graduation felt really good.
“My mum and all the family were really proud of me and, through all the hard work, it was always good to have it as a little end goal. You normally have to pay to go in the Minster and it was my first time inside there!”
On how he visualises the future, meanwhile, Jack added: “Quite a few people on our course worked on railways and I wouldn't mind going into that one day but, at the minute, I'm quite happy in the steel industry. My role is pretty interesting, so I’d just like to progress there and see where things go.”
To learn more about our HNC for Engineering course, click here
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