Paige leaves Texas for Teesside

American student Paige Winborn has returned home after her first year here to spend summer in the States and marry a Stockton man.

Paige, 21, of Dallas, Texas, met fiancé Andrew Robinson when she was 18 while spending a year in Stockton doing voluntary work with the church.

She initially returned to Texas after completing the voluntary work, but kept in touch with Andrew and soon returned to take a place here at the University.

Paige said: ‘I came to Stockton to do voluntary work with the church when I was 18 and I got a real heart for the place. After spending the year in Stockton I went home and did a year at college in Austin, Texas.’

Paige and Andrew got engaged before she returned to England to begin studying at our Business School.

The course is really good She said: ‘The course at Teesside is really good. I had been looking at the University of Texas, which has about 50,200 students, but I am really pleased that I came to Teesside instead.

‘It’s a lot different here to how things are run at home. Here, you are with the same people in every class which lets you get to know each other really well and form a team.

Lecturers very supportive ‘That was especially important as an international student, as it means I can come to campus and have a group of friends there. The lecturers are very supportive too and are really easy to get in touch with.’

She added: ‘I had an idea of what this part of the world was like when I came to do voluntary work, but now I’m here as a student I’ve seen more of the place. The countryside is really close by and I love walking on the moors. The people here are so friendly too.’

Paige also has a little reminder of back home while studying at Teesside, having joined the University’s Cheerleading Squad. She also coaches cheerleading at four local schools.

She added: ‘I was really excited to discover Teesside had its own Cheerleading Squad. I’m really enjoying taking part in British cheerleading competitions and I’ve made tons of friends through it.’

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