Student overcomes personal challenges to achieve first-class degree and national award
A student who thought higher education was out of reach after being forced to withdraw from sixth form following an assault during her final year of A-levels, has graduated from Keele University with a first-class degree and earned national recognition for her volunteering work.
Christina Pinto-Skeggs left education to receive treatment for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) but later enrolled at Keele and went on to be named Young Volunteer of the Year at the YMCA England and Wales Youth Matters Awards in 2025.
"When I had to leave my A-levels before finishing them to receive treatment, higher education was the last thing on my mind," Christina said.
"I'd never considered myself particularly academic to begin with, but as difficult as that period in my life was, everything I thought I knew about myself went out of the window. In a strange way, it gave me the opportunity to start again with a clean slate."
A period of travelling abroad proved to be a turning point for Christina. Experiencing different cultures and perspectives first-hand ignited a passion for foreign policy and international relations, prompting her to reconsider higher education as a viable path.
She said: "I fell in love with how different everywhere was while travelling. I saw an open day advertised for Keele University's January intake, and it felt like a perfect fit for where I was in life. It was for a degree in International Relations with a foundation year, and I decided to take a leap of faith and trust myself a bit more.
"I didn’t live anywhere near Keele, but I loved the idea of being on campus and having that supportive environment around me; that really appealed to me. I emailed Keele hoping they might consider me, as I didn’t have any A-levels at the time, and thankfully they were willing to take me on."
Christina, from Devon, credits Keele's campus environment with helping her thrive both academically and through her volunteering work.
During her second year, she began volunteering at Glo Café, run by YMCA Cheshire, in Crewe, where she supported staff with customer service and training. She also became involved in the charity's Starting Point initiative, a weekly social group for refugees and young unaccompanied asylum seekers.
Through this work, Christina identified a significant barrier preventing disadvantaged and displaced young people from accessing higher education. After consulting with Higher Horizons, she developed an Access to Higher Education project and designed a bespoke university open day aimed at improving opportunities for underrepresented groups.
Her efforts were recognised nationally when she was named Young Volunteer of the Year at the YMCA England and Wales Youth Matters Awards in 2025, selected from nominees across more than 100 YMCA branches.
Christina said: "The volunteering came from my time at Keele, and it was never something I had considered before. In my first year I was new to learning, new to the course and some of the content was quite hard for me to consume, so me and my friends talked about setting up a Model United Nations Society, where we could practice things like public speaking, teamwork and research, and I ended up becoming the President of the society.
"From then on, I really got into volunteering. I met the YMCA at a Freshers' Fair, and before coming to Keele, I'd managed a coffee shop. They told me about a small café they had in Crewe where some of their residents worked and volunteered and mentioned they could do with some training and support, so I got involved and started helping.
"I found it incredibly fulfilling and enjoyed it far more than I ever expected. Through that, I was introduced to Starting Point. As an International Relations student, I already had an interest in the issues facing refugees and asylum seekers, and that was really when my volunteering took off.
"The young people I met were so ambitious despite the challenges they had faced, including language barriers and trauma. Many had experienced PTSD, and I felt a sense of solidarity that transcended those differences. It was a genuinely meaningful experience and something that had a lasting impact on me."
After graduating from Keele, Christina is planning to start a Master's in International Law in September and hopes to pursue a career in foreign policy research and policy analysis, with ambitions to work in the think tank sector.
