Bristol: St Brendan’s student wins ‘Good Samaritan Award’

Muna Hassan with Nick Batchelar, Dr Mervyn Davies, Peter Bradshaw, Derek Bodey and Ann Barrow.

Nick Batchelar, Service Education Director at CYPS (Children and Young Persons Services) visited St Brendan’s Sixth Form College on Thursday 16 May to award Muna Hassan the college’s annual ‘Good Samaritan Award’. The college ceremony was also attended by four previous principals of St Brendan’s; Dr Mervyn Davies, Peter Bradshaw, Derek Bodey and Ann Barrow.

Muna is an 18 year old student from Easton who has been involved for more than five years in the Bristol based charity Integrate which was formed to help with the integration and adaptation of young people who have arrived from other countries and cultures.

Within Integrate, Muna has been campaigning to highlight issues around female genital mutilation. The practice it is illegal in the UK but widely practiced in East Africa, and parts of the Middle East. Girls from some immigrant communities are operated on illegally or sent abroad for the procedure.

Muna was part of a group that advised scriptwriters from Casualty on two episodes that aired last month and also won a national film competition for the short film Silent Scream, which has now been viewed more than 200,000 times.

Once Muna completes her A-levels she hopes to go to London to train as a midwife. Muna was also named JLS Young Student of the Year at the recent UK Sexual Health Awards.

Other nominations for the award were Jess Boulton, for her involvement with Young Bristol, Mencap and Beaver Scouts, Panagiotis Mastrogiannopoulos for his work with homeless people at the Wild Goose Café and the Bristol Soup Run and Chloe Alsop, for her work with Off the Record and the Mentality Project. The Good Samaritan Award is annually given to a student, or students, who have gone out of their way to help other people in the community. The ceremony took place on St Brendan’s Day at the college.