{"id":9819,"date":"2026-02-02T14:13:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emn.org.uk\/?p=9819"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:50:29","slug":"student-of-the-year-ligias-journey-to-hartlepool-engineering-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emn.org.uk\/2026\/02\/02\/student-of-the-year-ligias-journey-to-hartlepool-engineering-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Student of the Year Ligia’s Journey to Hartlepool Engineering Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When\u00a0Ligia\u00a0Andrea Salinas Rivera reflected on the moment she contemplated her future career path after deciding to change course, she explained: \u201cI was crying because I didn\u2019t know what to do.\u201d
\nHaving arrived in England from El Salvador just four years ago with limited English, the prospect of tackling an engineering course seemed daunting – especially after being warned it was \u201call maths.”
\nToday,\u00a0Ligia, 20, is not only excelling in her Engineering Level 3 course, consistently hitting distinctions, but she has been crowned Hartlepool College of Further Education\u2019s Student of the Year.\u00a0Her pride after she was honoured, quite rightly, was written all over her face as she chatted and is grateful for the faith her lecturers placed in her potential.\u00a0Ligia\u2019s journey to the top award is a testament to her resilience.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.hartlepoolfe.ac.uk\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When\u00a0Ligia\u00a0Andrea Salinas Rivera reflected on the moment she contemplated her future career path after deciding to change course, she explained: \u201cI was crying because I didn\u2019t know what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-training-news"],"yoast_head":"\nStudent of the Year Ligia's Journey to Hartlepool Engineering Success - The Engineering & Manufacturing Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emn.org.uk\/2026\/02\/02\/student-of-the-year-ligias-journey-to-hartlepool-engineering-success\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student of the Year Ligia's Journey to Hartlepool Engineering Success - 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