Helping hand with university studies
Waiuku’s Apriel Jolliffe Simpson is one step closer to pursuing her dreams.
She has been awarded a $6,000 Freemasons University Scholarship which will go towards her Bachelor of Social Sciences with Honours at the University of Waikato.
Her twin fields of interest are psychology and sociology. After completing her PhD, she hopes to become a qualified clinical psychologist working with offenders in a community setting.
Simpson was involved in research with a psychologist who is a leading researcher in forensic psychology, which led to an internship at the Waikato headquarters of the New Zealand Police. Simpson said harm to families, or related aspects of criminal psychology, will form her future studies and career.
For 40 years freemasons in New Zealand have awarded nearly $5.2 million in scholarships to 1,162 of the country’s most talented university students. Freemasons grand master Mark Winger said the scholarship programme was the largest privately funded such programme in the country.
‘‘It is an example of the positive impact freemasonry can make in the community and on the world stage, as we see from the career updates scholars send from time-totime.’’
‘‘Freemasons have always understood the importance of learning and how it encourages greater understanding amongst mankind.’’