Outstanding Students Win Council Scholarship

Date: Friday 06 November 2009

Five Palmerston North secondary students will have part of their Massey University tuition costs met by the City Council.

The students are recipients of City Council scholarships which will help to cover costs of them attending compulsory courses at Massey University for the next three years.

The criteria for the scholarship stipulated that the students would attend Massey, study in the area of food production involving the growing, processing, marketing and distribution of foodstuffs or sustainability, show excellent commitment to community and school life and display academic achievement suitable for tertiary study.

The recipients, from three Palmerston North schools, are Lorena Gledhill (Freyberg), James Lissington and Reinhardt Bestner (Palmerston North Boys High) and Bridget Legg and Sampoorna Tulasi Dama (Palmerston North Girls High).

Lorena is a regional representative hockey player and swimmer, James is involved in scouting and community service, Reinhardt has participated in a number of mentoring and leadership roles and is a member of the Daimler and Lanchester Owners Club, Bridget is involved in several Girls High committees and is a science and maths tutor and Sampoorna donates to and serves food at the Salvation Army.

The five students will each receive $2,400 over a three year period.

One of the adjudicators, Mayor Jono Naylor, in congratulating the recipients, says the City Council wanted them to be all-round students both in academic achievement and community participation.

"We wanted to see a moral and social responsibility in them," he comments. "We also wanted to retain them in the city by making these scholarships available at Massey University."

The five students will be congratulated at a mayoral morning tea early next month.