Aquinas student happy to be awarded $45,000 scholarship

AQUINAS EXCELLENCE: Aquinas College student Natalie Merrill won $45,000 as part of the University of Otago Academic Excellence Scholarship. PHOTO/ANDREW WARNER

An Aquinas College student has nabbed a prestigious $45,000 scholarship to attend the University of Otago.

Natalie Merrill, 17, received an email telling her she had been chosen as one of the recipients.

"I was very, very happy, and very glad and grateful," Natalie said.

The scholarship would help fund her first three years at the University of Otago, where she was planning to study law and commerce.

"I've always been interested in business and law, ensuring equality is really important to me," Natalie said.

The award is given to new undergraduate students who demonstrate both academic potential and leadership capabilities.

The hard-working student said the scholarship would "definitely help", as she was wanting to study for her masters in business which would bring her study time up to about seven years.

At Aquinas College, Natalie was leader of the environment committee where she had helped establish a worm farm, waste auditing and recycling projects, and was also part of the Leo Club.

She said the school had been "great" in helping her achieve the scholarship.

"They gave me an opportunity to do two university papers, economics and statistics," Natalie said.

Natalie had already shown her worthiness of the scholarship after she gained an A- in the first-year statistics paper and an A+ in the first-year economics paper. Natalie's mother Mary Washer-Merrill, a past student at the University of Otago herself, said she was excited about her daughter's win. "She takes her work seriously, it was very well deserved," Ms Washer-Merrill said

University of Otago scholarship manager Robin Quigg said the award was "very prestigious". "She's done very well, it's the top award we give," Ms Quigg said.

The keen scholar would be starting university in late February and had been accepted into Knox hall of residence. Natalie's plan beyond university is to be a chief executive or a lawyer for children.