The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Angus student named youth ambassador
An Angus student has been named among a select band of youth ambassadors in a United Nations celebration of the Chinese language.
Alexandra Mccombie from Carnoustie received the honour during the organisation’s Chinese Language Day celebrating one of the six official languages of the UN.
The seven recipients received the accolade during a live video ceremony from Geneva.
Alexandra, together with brothers Robin and Owen Wilson of Irvine and Elgin’s Brodie Lawrence were nominated for a short film project they completed.
The work, Spring Memories, explored their experiences while studying Mandarin and Chinese culture for a year in China in 2017.
The four initially met in 2016 while attending a short summer immersion school in Tianjin and Beijing.
They each then competed for and received scholarships to study Mandarin for a further year in Tianjin via the Confucius Institute for Scotland.
They have remained close friends while studying their respective undergraduate courses in Edinburgh.
Alexandra, now 21, is a former pupil of Burnside Primary and Carnoustie High School.
She is currently studying towards a master’s degree in geology at Edinburgh University.
Alexandra and fellow Carnoustie High pupil Kevin Shand were among just 22 young Scots to be awarded the full scholarship in 2017.
They both studied the language at the Angus secondary’s Confucius classroom hub – one of only 34 in Scotland at the time – and were active members of the Mandarin Club.