When Maria Rimmer-Turbakova came to this country 10 years ago she knew only six words of English.
And the youngster cried herself to sleep every night.
Now the stunning 21-year-old from Newsome, is studying for a Masters degree in Investigative Psychology at the University of Huddersfield.
And she has been invited to represent England in the Miss World University competition in South Korea.
The trip will also see her taking in events in Vietnam and Cambodia along the way as she will be away from home for three and a half weeks.
Maria was a runner-up in the Miss West Yorkshire event held at Grappolo’s restaurant in Lockwood last year.
She also models for selected firms in and around West Yorkshire.
Born in 1992 in Yekaterinburg, part of the Russian Federation, she came to Huddersfield in September, 2003, knowing only the tiniest smattering of English.
She said the early weeks were difficult as she suffered severe homesickness and many times she cried herself to sleep. But her friends saw her through.
In late November, 2003, she started at Almondbury High School and Language College.
Thanks to the help of dedicated staff she studied hard and went on to gain 12 GCSEs at decent grades.
She followed this up by attending Greenhead College where she went on to gain four A levels, 2 A*, B+ and C in General Studies.
Having received offers from various universities she plumped for Leeds University because it was local and offered the required courses.
She graduated with a BSC (Psych) with honours.
Now, she is taking her masters degree in Investigative Psychology at Huddersfield and will probably go on to do her PhD there too.
Maria is also a talented artist with great design skills and spatial awareness.
