Jessica Chanwai, 17, and Sahil Patil, 18, have already achieved more than many people ever will.
The St Paul’s Collegiate senior students were recently awarded University of Auckland scholarships valued at $50,000.
Both Chanwai and Patil come from medical families and plan to follow their parents into the medical professions beginning study next year in a three-year biomedical degree at Auckland, a precursor to studying medicine at Auckland Medical School.
School head girl Chanwai has an extensive CV including her academic, cultural, sporting and community endeavours and achievements.
She is also a talented electric and acoustic violinist and has won a variety of awards from the Hamilton and Te Awamutu competitions societies and won the Itinerant Music Teachers award with the school orchestra.
She has volunteered at Waikato Hospital with the Friends of Waikato Hospital Chaplaincy.
Fellow scholarship winner Patil had also spent time working voluntarily helping medical staff in hospitals in India.
He is the Schoolhouse prefect at St Paul’s, plays drums and has been a St John Ambulance volunteer for the past five years. He won the St John Grand Prior Award and was in the Waikato team at the St John national youth first aid competitions.
He is part of the St John first responder team and is qualified to work under an ambulance officer.
Patil achieved his Duke of Edinburgh gold award and captained the Waikato Table Tennis B squad. In September he won the University of Otago Leader of Tomorrow award.
Patil enjoys the sciences and wants to put what he learns to practical use.
Both students aim to follow their families into medicine because they enjoy helping other people and say the Auckland scholarship will be a great help in covering the costs of the study.
Meanwhile St Paul’s has also collected a variety of other scholarships including four $15,000 Auckland University of Technology (AUT) Significant Student scholarships, two $6000 David Johnstone Memorial scholarships and a $5000 University of Waikato Vice Chancellor’s Academic Excellence School Leavers scholarship.
