TWO students from the Borders are going on the trip of a lifetime to spend the summer studying at Harvard.

Sky Hume and Kyle Lyon will fly to Boston on Saturday (June 22) along with two other Scottish students.

The youngsters are taking part in a seven-week programme where they will study two university-level courses, live with other students from around the world and take part in typical campus life.

The trip is being organised by Who Cares? Scotland, a charity which supports people who have been in care.

Building on a passion for musical theatre, Sky will be using her time at Harvard to study acting. She is also looking to further her university aims by taking a psychology course.

The 17-year-old said: “This will be my first time going to America and I’m excited to see if it is really like what it is on TV.

“I want to study psychology at university so will be doing a course for it this summer at Harvard. Then after uni, I want to possibly become a psychologist or specialise in something else, like a social worker.

“They played a massive part in my life and helped me get through the adoption process. So I want to help other young people like that as well.”

With aspirations to become a biochemist, Kyle will be studying molecular biology during the summer. He also hopes to one day visit Japan and will be taking a Japanese course.

Kyle, 16, said: “It’s really exciting and I was surprised that I got picked to go.

“It’s going to be nice to get a taste of university life and be independent before starting a degree next year. I’m really into chess so I’m hoping there is some opportunity to get to play chess out there as well.”

The charity has been running its Harvard Summer School Sponsorship initiative since 2010 and has supported 30 ‘care experienced’ people to attend.

Louise Hunter, chief executive at Who Cares? Scotland, said: “We’ve been giving care experienced people the opportunity to attend the Harvard Summer School for over a decade. We’ve been able to see the wonderful impact this has had on our previous scholars, not only on their education and careers but also socially.

“For many care experienced people there are often barriers outside of their control in receiving the best possible opportunities as a student.”