On 26th of March, Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) held its very own Comic Con event for the second year running. This was a chance for students and staff to celebrate their love of comic books and science fiction culture, and to champion their creativity.
The day was filled with fun and activities, including face painting, comic book drawing, robot racing and badge making. The main events were a K-9 building competition and cosplay runway competitions for both students and staff.
In the morning, we had several talented students enter our K-9 building competition, which was judged by a representative from Beard Construction, who we are currently working with on the development of our new STEM centre. Our winners were ‘Steel Hounds’ made up of Mechanical Engineering students, Wallace Fernandes and Yahya Shire. For their winning design, they were awarded a ‘Beard’ shield and the chance to participate in work experience with the company, or one of their partner organisations. Making up part of the audience were sixty Year 10 students from our neighbouring school, RTS (Richmond upon Thames School). It was wonderful to be able to inspire younger students and show off our college facilities and activities in this way.
Over lunch, students attended an insightful presentation from RuTC alumnus, Tom Box, who co-founded multi-BAFTA award winning animation production company, Blue Zoo. They also had the chance to race K-9 robots in our sports hall, with winner, IT student, Maksym Stepanenko, securing a Nando’s voucher.
Our afternoon cosplay costume competition gave entrants the chance to strut their stuff down the runway in our auditorium, showing off their amazing costumes to fellow students and staff. The two winners of the student competition were A-Level student, Ella Brooks, and Supported Learning student, Hasan Amdad, who entertained the audience with his ghost costume. Both students won two tickets to the upcoming MCM Comic Con event at Olympia London for their efforts.
Ella commented on her win, "Winning Comic Con was an amazing experience, taking part in the runway was so fun and actually winning made it even better! I think it’s amazing how the college organised all the different activities and events throughout the day, and it was wonderful to see the way it brought everyone together to have fun. I think events like Comic Con really help with uplifting people’s energy and spirits, and definitely helps to showcase a community of people that are all interested in similar yet different aspects of media."
Staff members also had fun with their costumes. In the runway competition we had two pairs of joint first prize winners. These were our reception team, Nicola Ross and Victoria Davis, who entertained visitors all day as ‘Minions’ and Art & Design lecturers, Christina Button and Toby Rye, who dresses as ‘Daft Punk’.
Counselling and Mental Health Officer at RuTC, Lorna Edwards along with Administration Support Officer, Lottie Fernando were the driving forces behind the event. They worked tirelessly with other members of staff to create a truly memorable celebration.
Lorna commented,
“I am so proud and happy at how well RUTC’s second Comic Con event went. I knew it was going to be tough after last year’s event was such a great success and would be a hard act to follow, but the amazing students and staff didn’t disappoint. They donned their most imaginative costumes, creating a fantastic atmosphere and a strong sense of community."
Huge congratulations to all involved and the effort put into making the event such a success!