A former Sheppey schoolgirl, who has graduated from a top American university, has thanked the teachers who spurred her on.

Laura Tunbridge followed in the footsteps of Bill Clinton, George Bush senior and junior and Jodie Foster when she was accepted to Yale four years ago.

The 23-year-old said the best thing about her liberal arts degree, with a major in film studies, was having the chance to travel.

She wanted to learn Spanish, so the university, based in the coastal city of New Haven, Connecticut, paid for a summer programme in Ecuador in her first year.

The former Minster Primary, St George’s Middle and Highsted Grammar pupil also went to the Dominican Republic and made a documentary in Italy, France and Spain about what it means to be European.

When not being taught by some of the most brilliant minds in the world, she came back to Sheppey at Christmas and during the summer to say hello to friends at Tesco, Sheerness, where she used to work.

After the graduation ceremony, on May 20, she returned home to parents Colin and Rosemary in Stiles Close, Minster, on Friday.

It is just a whistle-stop visit as she will be on her way back in the next few weeks to work for PR firm the Neibart Group in Brooklyn, New York.

She said Americanisms she has picked up include trashcan instead of bin, sidewalk rather than pavement and bathroom, not toilet.

Miss Tunbridge says she is not sure if she will stay in the States long-term.

She admits she has come a long way since being turned down by British universities, including Oxford and Bristol, after passing her A-levels with four A grades and one B in 2008.

She said that had been the “best and worst thing to ever happen to me”.

A gap year to work at Highsted as a student ambassador followed and she decided to apply to Yale with only two months to spare.

“To get accepted was a dream come true,” she said. “I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to study a range of subjects.

“I want to make the most of it, I don’t quite know what that is quite yet, but I feel really lucky to have been given this amazing opportunity.

“I wouldn’t have managed were it not for the amazing people I have had pushing me on.”

Her father Colin, who is an investigator with Kent Police, said neither he nor his wife, who works as an administrator for the force, had been to university.

He added: “We are obviously proud as punch about her getting through and graduating after such a long time.”

Their other daughter Jennifer, 21, graduated from a professional chefs’ course at Canterbury College and now works in Sittingbourne for frozen meal supply company Cook.