Scholarship support for graduates

Stawell’s Sienna Amarant and Horsham’s Ashleigh Miller have won Fielding Menzies Tertiary Scholarships to help fund undergraduate studies.

The scholarships are awarded to two Wimmera students each year and are valued at $45,000 over three years.

Recipients are chosen based on passion, commitment to study and participation in leadership and community activities.

Miss Amarant is driven by a passion for human rights and international politics.

She will be the first person in her family to attend university and will undertake a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics and International Study.

The Stawell Secondary College graduate has been involved in leadership and mentoring throughout her school life.

She said it was only in her more senior years at school that she started to reflect on the importance of these roles and how they could affect the people around her.

“I’ve always been involved in leadership activities via smaller roles like being a school ambassador, every year there was something I was involved in,” she said.

“In the senior years I started to really understand the importance of it. I grew a lot in confidence and learned a lot as a house and school captain, and I wanted to encourage other kids to pursue the same opportunities in leadership.”

Miss Amarant’s participation in leadership activities, combined with exposure to subjects such as legal studies, health and human development and global politics, influenced her choice to study a Bachelor of Arts majoring in politics and international studies at the University of Melbourne.

“They were the subjects that had a worldly view and opened my mind about issues that I wasn’t exposed to growing up in a rural community; they inspired me to work hard to understand different people and cultures and how they function,” she said.

“I’m particularly interested in learning how I can promote and provide access to human rights for all through social policy – particularly when it comes to women and education.

“I believe if we can keep helping people obtain high-quality education, particularly in developing countries, it can empower them to fight for their own rights, and subsequently improve the wellbeing of themselves and those around them.”

Dream job

Miss Miller will study architecture at the University of Melbourne, combining her passion for maths and science with a craving for creativity.

The Horsham College graduate is self-proclaimed ‘maths-science kid school and arts kid outside of school’.

“I always enjoyed the problem solving of maths and science – there was something satisfying about having a problem and working from the top to the bottom of the page to work out the answer,” she said.

“The creativity comes a lot from my mum. One of her jobs is running the local arts shop. I’d often do scrapbooking and canvases with her and spent time running classes for younger kids teaching them too.”

Miss Miller travelled to Horsham’s sister city in China for two weeks in year 10 where she spent a week in a school and a week travelling with eight of her peers.

“The trip opened my eyes up to the importance of learning different perspectives and ways of doing things – it was a really a in incredible opportunity,” she said. “It was also fascinating to see how things are built and use space differently – such as towns built on the side of mountains.”

The Fielding Menzies scholarship, which provides students from the Wimmera with an opportunity to study at the University of Melbourne while living on campus at Ormond College, will enable Miss Miller to continue exploring her fascination with buildings along with her interests in design, creativity and problem solving via a degree in architecture.

“Architecture and design is where you can combine a group of skills to create something and move forwards,” she said.

“Once I graduate I’d love to find the opportunity to work across a range of projects and develop my own style.”

Fielding Menzies Tertiary Scholarships acknowledge the value of tertiary education and aim to increase the opportunity for committed senior rural students to undertake a university qualification.

Students who demonstrate a strong desire and capacity to study and learn, but are likely to experience economic hardship, will be eligible to apply.

People can visit http://menziesfoundation.org.au/scholarships/fielding-menzies-tertiary for more information. SCHUBERTS PEST SERVICES Ph: 5382 7484