Sophia Khan, a Year 13 student, has won one of Teesside University's Passport Pride awards. Sophie said she is 'over the moon' to have scooped this award.

Sophia Khan, a Year 13 student, has won one of Teesside University's Passport Pride awards. Sophia, who is studying double Business and Applied ICT BTEC, said she is 'over the moon' to have scooped this award, which was given in recognition of her hard work and achievement.

Sophia was nominated for the award by her Business teacher, Mr Spence who felt that Sophia had shown real effort and made consistently good progress since the start of Year 12 when she joined the academy from Grangefield School in Stockton. Sophia explained, "When I first came to Macmillan, I found things very different. My courses were challenging and I had to learn to be resourceful and develop independent learning skills. Mr Spence really helped me with this throughout Year 12 and I think the experience has helped me build skills I'll need for University and develop as a learner."

After being nominated, Sophie was invited to interview at the university, which she was a little apprehensive about but actually found the interview both interesting and enjoyable. "It was a really good experience, As my interviewer was so knowledgeable about both business and marketing, he was able to give me lots of useful advice."
"We discussed the route he had taken before moving into his current role at the university and his own experience of doing a marketing degree. This is obviously helpful for me in terms of planning my own journey and achieving my own goals."

The Awards' Ceremony was held at Teesside University on Thursday 20th September and Sophie was proud to attend along with her mum, dad and sister. Mrs Turner and Mrs Hill from Macmillan Academy's Post-16 team were also there to support Sophia. Mrs Turner, Assistant Head of Post 16 said, "We are extremely proud of Sophia's achievements and were delighted that her efforts were recognised by Teesside University and the Passport team. Sophia was competing against lots of other quality students so she has done exceptionally well to win; she is a very positive role model and ambassador for Post 16."

Sophie enjoyed the formal dinner, saying "The meal was really nice and it was great to meet other students from other colleges in Teesside." My parents were happy to be there to see me presented with the award."