Blenheim Palace plays host to Abingdon & Witney college's annual student of the year awards
Nataliia Ryzhova, from Kharkiv in Ukraine, picked up Abingdon & Witney college's annual 'student of the year' award, at an event held at Oxfordshire's Blenheim palace on July 5 this year.
From more than 8,000 students, each faculty at the FE college nominated a student as their 'overall achievement' award and the 'overall performance' award winners.
The nominations and accompanying citations were sent to the board of governors who then selected the top three, and ultimately then named this year's student of the year.
Scott Gray, head of faculty for creative industries at Abingdon & Witney College said: "Nataliia is from Kharkiv, Ukraine and came for an interview at Abingdon & Witney College just a few days after arriving in the UK with her mother and sister to live with a host family nearby.
"Despite the unthinkable upheaval she and her family had been through, she seemed upbeat and keen to restart her education, which had been so brutally interrupted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
He explained that she had been an "extremely prolific" student back home, achieving high grades.
"She excelled in every project and informed us that she intended to apply to study Fine Art at university in September," said Gray.
"We were initially apprehensive about her chances of being accepted from a Level 2 course, but she was extremely determined and felt, quite rightly, that she should have the right to progress to Higher Education as she would have been doing now if she were still living in Ukraine.
"We are delighted and extremely proud that Nataliia has been offered a place on the prestigious Fine Art: Drawing course at UAL Camberwell, which she is looking forward to starting in September. She is a remarkable student who will no doubt go on to have a very successful future in art and design."
Jacqui Canton, principal and CEO for Abingdon & Witney College, hosted the event and said: "It was an absolute privilege to host the Student Awards evening at Blenheim Palace.
"Further Education colleges do the most amazing work, and it is so fantastic to hear the extraordinary stories and successes of our students. Each year, I am so proud of every single one of our students and the fabulous staff team that work so hard to help them to achieve."
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