Students awarded Port scholarship

Left to right: Mark Cairns, Samantha Grace, Tiare Dickson and Paula Hemana-Smith.

Three new students have been named as recipients of a Port of Tauranga scholarship for tertiary study.

The Turirangi Te Kani Memorial Scholarships, which honour one of Tauranga's leading community figures, have been awarded annually by the Port for 25 years.

This year's recipients are: Tiara Dickson, 18, studying for Bachelor of Maori Visual Arts - Eastern Institute of Technology at Gisborne, Paula Hemana-Smith,17, studying for a Bachelor of Law at Waikato University, and Samantha Grace, 19, studying medicine at Auckland University.

The scholarship is awarded for up to three years' tertiary study to young people from the Tauranga Moana Trust Board area with tribal affiliation with Tauranga Iwi.

It recognises not only the contribution made to the community by Turirangi Te Kani, who led the formation of the Matapihi-Ohuku Trust and served on the Tauranga-Moana Maori Trust Board, but also his services and advice to the Port of Tauranga.

A veteran of the Maori Battalion, Turirangi Te Kani died in 1990.

"We take an active interest in the tertiary careers of the students we support," said Port chief executive Mark Cairns.

"The scholarships are awarded on a year-by-year basis and the students report back on their study progress and exam results each year."

Of the six recipients of the award from 2013 and 2014, five have been affirmed to receive the scholarships funds again in 2015. They are: Kalei Delamere-Ririnui, Mihi Ngata (second year students), and Awhina Hona, Rhiannen Ranui and Jason Waters (third year students).