A TEENAGER aiming to become the third generation of her family to work in the Scunthorpe steel industry has made a great start after rewriting the history books.

For Christina Hookham (19) has become the first-ever female to win two major awards donated by the Lincolnshire Iron and Steel Institute.

The Ashby-based teenager this week started her studies in material science at Oxford University richer to the tune of £4,500.

The Institute awarded Christina, a former student of John Leggott, Scunthorpe, and Huntcliff College, Kirton in Lindsey, with £500 for the A-level prize.

The acclaim came after she attained straight As in her examinations in mathematics, physics, chemistry and further mathematics.

On top of that, Christina received an undergraduate bursary worth £1,000 a year over the next four years.

For the past two years she has been involved in the Sixth Form Link Scheme with the Corus steelworks in Scunthorpe, working the summer breaks in the central laboratory and the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) plant.

Christina chose the BOS plant because of her family's connections with that part of the works.

She explained her uncle, Peter Altoft (48) currently worked there and her grandfather, George Altoft (73) had also worked there.