A Glasgow student is set to embark on a journey of a lifetime – a summer of study at Harvard.

Abbie McMahon, 16, will fly to Boston on June 22, joining three other Care Experienced students from Scotland at the prestigious institution.

They will participate in a seven-week programme where they will study two university-level courses and live alongside fellow students from across the globe in campus.

Abbie, who plans on studying Italian and psychology, said: "I don’t think I’ve fully processed that I’m going yet.

"I’m super excited but nervous at the same time.

"I’m looking forward to just getting to experience it all and meet new people from all over the world."

(Image: Who Cares? Scotland)

On returning, she will begin her sixth year at Knightswood High School and intends to pursue Adult Nursing at university.

The Who Cares? Scotland charity is organising the trip, championing the academic aspirations of care-experienced individuals, including those who are or have lived in children’s homes, foster care or who are looked after by relatives or have social work involvement.

Since 2010, its Harvard Summer School Sponsorship initiative has enabled 30 care-experienced individuals to attend.

Louise Hunter, chief executive at Who Cares? Scotland, said: "We’ve been giving care-experienced people the opportunity to attend the Harvard Summer School for more than a decade.

"We’ve been able to see the wonderful impact this has had on our previous scholars not only on their education and careers but also socially.

“For many care-experienced people, there are often barriers outside of their control in receiving the best possible opportunities as a student.

“Work is being done to help care-experienced pupils thrive in schools such as the Care Experienced student bursary and minimum entry requirements for further education institutions.

"By providing this opportunity, it’s just another way we hope to support care-experienced people to be able to achieve their academic goals.”

Bill Holinger, director of Harvard Summer School, said: "Young scholars from Who Cares? Scotland have been attending Harvard Summer School and enrolling in classes for undergraduate credit for well over a decade now.

"We are very happy to have them – they add a spark to the summer student body, providing perspective and depth in their classrooms and congeniality in the dorms."