Outstanding linguistic skills led to a commendation for a motivated A Level German student who impressed judges in an Oxford University competition.
More than 14,000 students from 260 schools participated in the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators in 2022, with a student from HSDC Alton gaining a commendation for her work.
Alex Thickett took on the challenge set by The Queen’s College, Oxford University, in her spare time around revising for A Level exams in her chosen subjects of German, Psychology and Biology.
All competition entrants had to translate a book extract which had some historical context, and Alex was pleased to find out she had been commended for her efforts by the judges.
The competition took place in the middle of exam time – Alex found it to be a nice break to focus on something else and develop her German skills in a different way.
Alex, who came to HSDC Alton from Farnham Heath End School, said:
“I was quite surprised because there were quite a lot of entrants. I was really proud of it, I was quite happy.
“I think it was a nice break activity from the other work! German is always the highlight of my day.
“I really like German, I’m planning on doing a Modern Languages degree. If I get into Oxford I’ll be doing Modern Greek as a beginner language.”
Alex, who is at the end of her second year, has enjoyed her time at college and particularly loved taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Silver Award.
She is looking forward to taking her language studies further at university, and is hoping to visit Germany soon to use the language with native speakers.
Dr Cathrin Brockhaus, Alex’s German teacher, said:
“I was delighted about Alex’s commendation in the Oxford University translation project – it’s an amazing achievement to be selected from so many competition participants.
“Alex is an outstanding student who has shown commitment, dedication, and self-motivation throughout her time at college. Her academic success is well deserved, and she should be very proud of it.”
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