Students to get leg up from BOP Education Trust

Bay of Plenty Education Trust scholarship recipients for 2024 from Te Puke. Ruby Burt (Mt Maunganui College), Cameron Paterson (Te Puke High), with Tom Beswick (Bay of Plenty Education Trust trustee). Photo / Alex Cairns

Four local students were among those on stage recently receiving Bay of Plenty Education Trust scholarships to assist them as they embark on their tertiary studies.

Those recipients were: Cameron Paterson from Te Puke, who attended Te Puke High School; Ruby Burt from Paengaroa, a former Mt Maunganui College student; and Harriet Van Der Westhuizen and Adrena Palmer who both graduated from Pāpāmoa College last year.

Each scholarship equates to $6000 per recipient, distributed over the years of their tertiary study.

Cameron is keen to become a dentist and will be putting her money towards her health science studies at Otago University. Ruby has plans to study biology and then medicine at the University of Auckland. Harriet is off to study engineering at Canterbury University, while Adrena will also pursue an engineering qualification, but at Auckland University.

The four joined 10 other students at BOP Education Trust prizegivings.

Bay of Plenty Education Trust scholarship recipients for 2024 from Pāpāmoa. Harriet Van Der Westhuizen (Pāpāmoa College), Adrena Palmer (Pāpāmoa College), with Tom Beswick (Bay of Plenty Education Trust trustee). Photo / Alex Cairns

A total of $2,081,750 has been received over the years by 409 students from coastal Bay of Plenty colleges thanks to the trust’s science, technology and emerging industries scholarships.

Each year the trust gifts scholarships to as many as 20 students graduating from coastal high schools and colleges between Katikati and Ōpōtiki. Colleges with more than 1000 students are eligible for two scholarships, with the winners determined by the individual colleges/high schools.

Bay of Plenty Education Trust chairman Nick Earl says investing in the tertiary education of the Bay’s young people has long been a focus of the trust, which also assists in other areas of the community.

The trust has been operating since 1985.

The other new Western Bay recipients were: Logan Murray and Vince Escaran (Tauranga Boys’ College); Kate Dekker (Aquinas College); Katie Seng Woon Chua and Rachel Wahab (Ōtūmoetai College); Manu Gates and Danica Fisher (Tauranga Girls’ College); Benjamin Salmon (Bethlehem College); Michael Kean (Katikati College); and Joe Chapman (Mt Maunganui College).

The new Eastern Bay recipients were: Deepak Joshi and Rhys Robertson (Whakatāne High School); Brayden Andrews (Trident High School); Shinaid O’Regan (Edgecumbe College); Atutahi Porter (Ōpōtiki College); and Trizhana Wade (Tarawera High School).