A student who hopes to be an environmental lawyer is celebrating after winning a scholarship from a foundation which aims to encourage diversity in the workplace.

Savannah Odeyemi, from Walthamstow, is one of seven students from ethnic minorities to receive the scholarship from The Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation.

The 14-year-old, whose father is Nigerian and mother is Jamaican, is in year 10 at Walthamstow School for Girls in Church Hill, Walthamstow.

She is one of seven students in the UK who will receive £250, work experience opportunities and public speaking training by professionals as part of the scholarship.

The student, who is taking triple sciences for her GCSEs, said: “I am really happy to have been given this scholarship.

“I hope to gain new skills from the mentoring and I want to learn about how to apply for jobs.

“I want to be an environmental lawyer so I want to learn leadership skills.

“I believe we should use the renewable resources that we already have here and I do a lot of reading about it.”

The scholarships were awarded by Miranda Brawn Diversity Leadership Foundation, which provides students from ethnic minority backgrounds with opportunities to help them succeed in their careers.

Miranda Brawn, founder of the foundation, said: “Companies that champion and promote diversity, in every sense of the word within their organisation, reap very real rewards from their efforts, such as enhanced business performance, reputational strength, a more innovative and collaborative culture and the ability to attract the best talent in the market.

“It is crucial that we nurture and grow the next generation of talent from an early age while they are still at school, with the objective of diversifying the talent pipeline to close the diversity gap.

“We need to focus much more on the ‘how’ rather than the ‘why’ diversity matters in the 21st century.”