Year 13 St Paul’s Collegiate School student Mckinley Vollebregt has been awarded an Otago University Māori and Pacific Scholarship which will contribute $10,000 towards course related costs for her pre-medical science degree.
The 18-year-old has her heart set on health science and Otago since visiting the university as part of the Hands-On Science programme in 2016, which gave a select number of high school students an insight into what it would be like to study at Otago.
“The programme allowed me to see first-hand the range of opportunities in science and to get a taste of what it would be like studying at Otago,” she said.
From then she was hooked. Mckinley researched scholarships that she would be eligible for and submitted an application for the Otago University’s Māori and Pacific Scholarship.
She was awarded the scholarship for her involvement in her local community and also for her academic achievements and well-rounded portfolio.
Just to name a few of her many achievements, the scholarship recipient achieved NCEA Level 2 endorsed with Excellence; won national secondary schools' tennis titles; volunteered at her local marae and Waikato Hospital; volunteered as a tennis coach for primary school students and was a member of St Paul’s Kapa Haka group.
This year Mckinley studied NCEA Biology, Chemistry, Physics, PE and Statistics.
