Winner of the Leeds Student Icon 2015 competition is revealed

• 02 Jun, '15
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One remarkable Leeds student has won the prestigious accolade of Leeds Student Icon 2015 and has been awarded with every student’s dream prize.

Leeds’ students entered in their hundreds to be in with a chance of winning the once in a lifetime prize, a year’s free tenancy in IconInc’s luxurious apartment, worth £7,000, including complimentary daily breakfast and all inclusive utility bills.

Arundhati Patel, an international student from America studying at the University of Leeds, went head to head with four other Leeds students in the final to be crowned the winner of this inspiring competition.

Aru’s creative flare, hard work and dedication made her stand out from the crowd. From design to dance, Aru loves to use her creativity in all aspects of her life, even her entry form to the competition was a fascinating piece of art. Aru is multilingual and can speak an extraordinary 6 different languages. She believes her cultural background has allowed her to relate and connect with a wide range of people in Leeds. Aru joined the National Hindu Students Forum and Leeds South Asian Society where she is responsible for producing all promotional material and she is also part of the Japanese and Korean society.

On top of that Aru has been course representative for the School of Design since 2012 and was part of the International Youth Scholars Volunteers where she mentored students one-on-one to help them achieve their aspirations. Aru dances competitively at Leeds Dancesport, specialising in ballroom and Latin, and recently was a background dancer in a Bollywood film that was shooting in Leeds.

Arundhati Patel, winner of the Leeds Student Icon competition, explains; “Delighted doesn't begin to express how I feel about winning Leeds Student Icon 2015. It will give me the opportunity and time to continue my work with charities and societies while studying. As it will be my final year at the University of Leeds, I hope to save up enough to travel more after I graduate and continue to be inspired by different people and cultures. More than anything, I am extremely touched and grateful to all of the support I received for this contest - I owe a lot of people cupcakes!"

The prize is a year’s tenancy from IconInc in a luxury apartment which offers the luxury, modern design and cutting edge technology of a boutique hotel – 365 days of the year. The lavish and beautifully furnished apartments include en-suite bathroom, plush double or king bed, flat screen TV, high-speed Wi-Fi and utility bills. IconInc’s “all-inclusive” facilities include an on-site gym with available personal trainers, a cinema room, games zone, complimentary daily breakfast, study rooms, self-service pantry and 24 hour concierge.