News19th August 2016
Ark students received some strong A-level results today, with pupils from receiving offers from top universities including Oxford, Imperial, Warwick, Bristol, Birmingham and Leeds.
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Melissa from Ark Globe Academy is off to university to read International Relations
“I am very excited right now. I just opened my results and I am really happy. I am really grateful to my geography teacher for helping and supporting me. I want to go into International Relations and work for an NGO. I’m going to change the world. I’m still figuring how, but I will.”
Melissa moved to the UK from Nigeria with her family when she was 10 years old. She says: “It was just for me to have a better chance at life, to get a better education and better resources, that’s part of what motivates me because I want to make their sacrifice worth it.”
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Russell Reid from Ark William Parker Academy is going to study Physics at Oxford University, Corpus Christi College
“I’m feeling pretty good and over the moon with my results.”
From an early age, Russell has known he wanted to pursue the subject. He says: “I enjoyed maths when I was growing up and you would come up with equations, but you couldn’t really conceive what they meant easily – physics is a way to input that into the real world.”
Russell is already looking forward to his career after university and the great opportunities a degree in Physics from a top university will open up. He says: “I’d quite like to do a PhD, and then maybe go into lecturing. Or I might try making documentaries for physics.”
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Sinem Oyzoyn from King Solomon Academy is the first in her family to go to university. She’s set to go to the University of Warwick
“I still can’t believe I’m going to Warwick. I’ve wanted to go since Year 7. My parents both didn’t go to university, so to go to such an amazing institution, it’s such a massive thing for my family.”
Sinem was worried that recent health issues might have an impact on her grades. “I didn’t sleep all night. When I logged in to check my results I had to refresh the page five times.
I want to say a massive thank you to my teachers – especially Miss Petrie, Miss Humphreys and Mr Clark who all really helped me. They are amazing people who give hours of their time and work so hard to get us where we are.”
Take a look at our Storify to see more stories from across the Ark network.