A YOUNG Poole woman who had to rebuild her life following a horrific crash has been named Bournemouth and Poole College’s ‘Student of the Year’.

Jade Hutchings was critically injured in a crash in Cranborne in September 2012 and spent days in a medically-induced coma.

Despite suffering on-going symptoms of her life-changing brain injury, she amazed medical staff and her own family by rebuilding her life, even returning to her travel and tourism course.

And now her determination has been officially recognised by her teachers and peers at Bournemouth and Poole College and she has been awarded the prestigious overall Student of the Year award at the College’s ‘Oscars’ night.

Adrian Martin, the College’s Director of Apprenticeships and Employability, said: “This year we had some marvellous nominees for our most exceptional student award, but I think everyone would agree that Jade was the stand-out candidate.

“The courage and determination with which she fought back after her awful accident will be an inspiration to young people everywhere. This is fully deserved.”

Jade, who is aged 20 and lives in Parkstone, said she was “shaking” when she discovered she had won the award.

“It was such a shock,” she said.

“I had been given the award for travel and tourism too, so I was nominated for Student of the Year, but I wasn’t expecting it at all.”

To top it all off, Jade was selected for a two-year apprenticeship with the Lighthouse in Poole, fending off competition from more than 50 other candidates.

She said: “I’ve just started and it’s really exciting and challenging too.”