Ebubechi Okpalugo, a Manchester High School for Girls student from Sale, is lending her support to the school’s new bursary appeal.

The ‘Never Over100ked’ campaign aims to bring the 100th Pankhurst bursary pupil to Manchester High School for Girls.

The Pankhurst Bursary Appeal, which helped cover the costs of Ebubechi’s tuition fees at the independent school, was launched in 2010 with the aspiration to raise £2 million, enabling 100 girls to pass through Manchester High with financial assistance.

Thanks to donations from loyal supporters, 82 girls to date have benefited and the ‘Never Over100ked’ campaign is about reaching the remaining 18 girls.

Ebubechi, who is actually the outgoing Deputy Head Girl at Manchester High, was joined by four past recipients of a bursary award to launch the campaign. They are Vicky Kloss, chief communications officer for Manchester City Football Group; Laura Earnshaw, former head of global talent at AstraZeneca,;Lucie Hinton, USA projects co-ordinator for Manchester Airports Group and outgoing headgirl, Sophie Haughton.

Ebubechi has taken A-levels in Biology, Chemistry and Art and has an offer to study Medicine at the University of Oxford in September.

She SAID: “The bursary fund enabled me to become a Manchester High girl in Year 7 when my dad was working abroad and we were reliant on just my mum’s nursing salary. Thankfully by Year 8 my dad had found work in the UK and our financial situation had changed but without the assistance I received from the bursary fund I may have never become a Manchester High girl.”

The campaign got off to a flying start on June 11when the school’s annual Bursary Ball at the Hilton Hotel on Deansgate raised £28,600.

For more information on Manchester High School for Girls and the ‘Never Over100ked’ campaign, visit www.manchesterhigh.co.uk.