Physics Award Winner 
I was presented my award by Dr Stacie Powell, Southampton alumni. Stacie also competed in the 2012 Olympics in the 10m diving event and I found both receiving this award and meeting Stacie very inspiring. It was at this point that I decided I wanted to do Physics at Southampton. I also really liked the fact it was so close to home, and I knew it had a really good reputation for Physics.

Summer Experiences
In order to achieve my dream of studying a Physics degree at Southampton I chose to study Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and Music at A-level. It wasn’t till the summer before my undergraduate started that I also discovered an interest in Astronomy. In between doing designs for my custom guitar design company ‘Harkenshield Customs’, which I had just set up. I also found time to watch a lot of astronomy documentaries on TV!

I decided to study MPhys Physics with Astronomy. Because I had chosen a top Russell Group University and had previously been awarded the 'Physicist of the Year' prize, this meant that I was eligible to apply for a means-tested Ogden Trust Scholarship worth £1,500 to help fund my undergraduate studies for up to four years.

At the end of my first year, during the second semester exams I started to pester one of the new astronomy lecturers, Dr Mike Childress as I knew I wanted to stay here during the summer and do some astronomy research. Finally Mike agreed that I could do a research project with him on the high velocity features in Type Ia Supernova. I ended up working on this for 16 weeks during the summer break, even though I originally was only meant to work for 10 weeks! I am currently writing up this work on using high velocity features of Type Ia Supernovae, obtained from their optical spectra, to work out the distance to supernovae, as a research paper and I expect to submit to an astronomy journal MNRAS by March 2017.

Competing in International Competitions
This summer I have also been competing in Power-Cross competitions. I started this sport when I was in year 12, it is basically a mixture of everything, it includes two long distance events (a run and a swim) and three strength events, which can be anything, for example, clean and jerk, snatch etc. I work with a trainer for six months during the season. I won my latest competition and as a result of my victory, I was invited to take on further training, so that I could compete in more advanced international competitions. However, I love Physics and Astronomy too much and I don’t want to pause my degree at this exciting time, so I have turned down this opportunity, so I can complete my Physics degree.

My Future
I am very excited about the second year of my undergraduate degree, specifically looking forward to the Tenerife field trip, where I will get to work with research grade telescopes for a whole week. I am also getting into Cross Fit, which is a step-up from Power-Cross. This includes even more strength exercises and I hope to start competing soon.

Finally, I am already thinking about doing a PhD in Astronomy research; I really like the sound of the ones here at Southampton.