AN East End school is celebrating sending its first pupil to study in America.

As told by the Glasgow Times last year, high achieving Rachel Macrae was determined to achieve her dream of studying forensic medicine in the US.

Degree fees cost more than £38,000 a year, meaning the Lochend Community High School teenager had to work hard to raise funds and find scholarships.

But her hard work has paid off and the 17-year-old now has enough to pay for her first year at Marian University in Wisconsin.

Head teacher David McArthur said the whole school is proud of Rachel's efforts and is delighted to see her take her first step towards her goal.

He said: "The school has given Rachel a lot of support, and so has her family, but this has come from Rachel's hard work.

"It is not very often you see a kid so driven.

"When it looked like there might not be funding she said, 'I'll go to America and get a job and do this myself.'

"I think about when I was her age and I would never ever have thought about doing something like that, going and making my life in America.

"There is an inner something in her, she is a very special girl."

Rachel is the first pupil at the Easterhouse secondary to gain 10 Highers and is the first to head to America to study.

She said the opportunities available to study forensic medicine are more varied in US colleges and she hopes her life-long passion for science will help her go on to work at one of the American law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI.

Rachel also wants to be a role model to other young women with an interested in science, technology, engineering and maths.

She achieved her record 10 Highers and one Advanced Higher despite needing four weeks off school with a burst appendix.

Glasgow Times: Rachel Macrae, a sixth year pupil at Lochend Community High School, Easterhouse Picture: Colin Mearns

Having applied to several US colleges, her stellar grades secured her an unconditional place at Tampa - her first choice.

She has raised enough money for the first year of university and David said she is still looking for funding for the additional years of the course.

He added: "She doesn't even blow her own trumpet - she just does her own thing and knows what she wants but she is a very grounded and lovely person.

"She has always got a smile on her face, even though she has had her hard times too but she is never thrown off, she is very focused girl.

"It is so important to have a role model in the school so that other pupils can see her and think, 'If you can do it, I can do it.'"

Earlier this year we also told how Lochend Community High School was the first secondary in Glasgow to achieve the milestone of having 100% of pupils go on to a positive leaver destination - education, training or work.

As well as being the best in the city, the school also bucked a national trend that saw the percentage of positive destinations for pupils drop in 2019/2020 to 93.3%, the lowest in five years.