”Switching from a Romanian-system middle school to a Cambridge-curriculum high school was a big change I had to adapt to. I was very lucky that all the teachers in Year 10 were very patient with us and created a smooth transition to a completely different teaching approach, on top of studying in a different language.
Throughout my time in Avenor, I really understood the Cambridge curriculum with the help of the British teachers, and experienced teachers in the system, which was an important step towards following a university degree in England.
This really made my first year of university a lot easier and enjoyable, because it was a big part of the experience that didn’t need adapting to, so I could focus on meeting people and getting to know the culture.”
Maria is an Avenor alumnus from the first generation of graduate students. She finished university and was recently employed in the UK, in a cybersecurity consultancy company.
Avenor: Where are you now, and what did you study?
Maria: I studied Physics at University of Liverpool for the past 3 years, I graduated in July and I just started my first job this month at CyberIAM, a cybersecurity consultancy company which is located very close to Liverpool.
Avenor: How did you take the decision to study Physics?
Maria: I played tennis professionally until I was 16-17 years old. After the IGCSEs I felt like I would like to follow a different path to tennis and go to university, so I started thinking about my favourite subjects in school. Maths was always a big passion of mine, as well as sciences, so I decided to try the Physics A Level. During Year 12 I really discovered and developed my passion and curiosity in the physics field, so I started looking at physics programmes for university.
Avenor: How did Avenor prepare you for the college experience?
Maria: Switching from a Romanian-system middle school to a Cambridge-curriculum high school was a big change I had to adapt to. I was very lucky that all the teachers in Year 10 were very patient with us and created a smooth transition to a completely different teaching approach, on top of studying in a different language.
Throughout my time in Avenor, I really understood the Cambridge curriculum with the help of the British teachers, and experienced teachers in the system, which was an important step towards following a university degree in England.
This really made my first year of university a lot easier and enjoyable, because it was a big part of the experience that didn’t need adapting to, so I could focus on meeting people and getting to know the culture.
Being quite a small school at the time, my generation and I had the chance to be part of very small classes which meant more interaction with the teachers and more attention being paid to our progress and to individual plans to reach our targeted grades. It was also great to get used to some English accents :).
Avenor: If you had to send a message to one of your teachers at Avenor who influenced you in a decisive way at some point, what would that message be?
Maria: Ms. Gillian, thank you so much for all the help provided throughout my A Level. Thank you so much for replying to my countless emails with past paper exercises I was struggling with. Thank you so much for being patient with my silly mistakes in mechanics. Thank you so much for helping me prepare for the interview for University of Southampton. Thank you so much for selecting and marking countless past paper questions on the communications and circuits topics that I always hated. Thank you so much for helping me discover my passion and curiosity for this extremely interesting subject that brought me where I am today and paved a wonderful career path!
