Maria Paduroiu, 18, the winner of our Rising Star award, first came to the UK from Romania after winning a scholarship to Roedean, West Sussex

Can you tell us a little about how you got in to Roedean"
I loved my school back home. I?d been enrolled for six years before I left. I was studying on a maths and computer science programme in a class with some of the best students I?ve ever met. However, the political system in our country was deteriorating by the day, and my parents and I knew that I didn?t want to stay. So with the help of one of our closest friends, Marlen, who was advertising the HMC scholarships, I applied.
Did you have any reservations about attending a UK school"
I knew nothing about boarding schools and I had never heard of one that was just for girls before. As someone who grew up with two brothers and in a co-ed school, the fact that I was going to be surrounded just by girls scared me a bit. All I could think about before I got there were movies like Wild Child, so I expected the same thing. I?m happy to say that it was so different. I knew it?d be a challenge to move to a school that has such an impressive history, but I was so excited to be a part of this legacy that it didn?t matter how nervous I was.
Was it hard to fit in at school"
I was the only Romanian girl, and everybody was extremely smart and talented, so I felt a bit out of place for a while. That was until I joined all my extracurricular clubs and got to know the girls in t...