Myers picks top scholar

Doug Myers (left) and Arkesh Patel. Photo / Janna Dixon

If Doug Myers had to pick his favourite day of the year, it is the one when the Douglas Myers scholar is chosen and announced. It is, he says, "the most uplifting" day of the year for him.

For 18-year-old North Shore student Arkesh Patel, it was the best day of his life when he heard he was this year's recipient of the scholarship, which will fund three years' study at Cambridge University in England.

The former Westlake Boys' High School pupil, currently studying at Auckland University, will leave in September to attend Cambridge's Gonville and Caius College - from where Myers and his son Campbell graduated.

Patel will study engineering and professes an interest in robotics, "problem solving", big projects, business and finance. He hopes, he says, to one day be "a leader".

Myers, working with a panel of five others, says the selection process was "pretty overwhelming" because of the "extraordinary" calibre of the applicants.

The candidates undoubtedly have to be bright - Patel was dux of Westlake Boys and earned six "top in the world" marks in his Cambridge exams.

But academic ability alone is not enough, Myers says.

He and the selection panel look for someone "who is going to make their mark on the world", someone who can get through the tough times and win people over.

Eventually, Myers hopes, his scholars will come back to New Zealand and make their mark here also - although, to date, the past eight Myers scholars have yet to return.

Myers is not bothered by that. They are young, he says. Eventually they might return and for now they are a good contact point for other young Kiwis.

The recipients of this year's Robertson Scholarships are Claire Sorrenson from Takapuna Grammar School and Hunter Douglas from Wellington College.

The scholarships, funded by American millionaire Julian Robertson, enable two New Zealand students to study for three years at American universities.