A 23-year-old Andover apprentice has won a top BT award following her success as last years Student of the Year at Salisbury College.

Pippa Crane has been selected as modern apprentice of the year for BT Customer Service (South).

She was judged on a combination of factors including her NVQ and BTEC achievements, leadership skills, commitment to BT, community spirit and the ability to manage relationships.

I left college with A-levels but didnt want to go to university, said Pippa. A BT modern apprenticeship gave me the opportunity I was lookng for to learn on the job.

She said working with an all-male field engineering team had been like having 18 surrogate fathers helping her acquire the skills she needed.

Although being the only female engineer on the patch has never been a problem with my colleagues, customers are sometimes surprised to see a woman turn up to repair their line, said Pippa, who is hoping to gain a distinction in her electronic engineering BTEC.

She is currently training as an NVQ assessor and running a project to help schools with information technology, offering demonstrations of BT services.

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