Hugo Brown is just starting his final year of school but he’s already got money in the bank for further study.
The 17-year-old St Paul’s Collegiate School pupil yesterday found out he'd passed his three New Zealand Scholarship exams, one at outstanding level.
And his reaction?
"A bit of disbelief. I wasn't really expecting to do as well as I did," Brown said.
He was one of almost 8000 pupils across New Zealand who sat scholarship exams last year – about 715 of them in the Waikato.
Just under 2300 Kiwi pupils achieved scholarships for one or more subjects, meaning about $3.7 million would go towards furthering their study over the next three years.
Those pupils were "the best of the best", NZQA deputy chief executive Richard Thornton said.
"New Zealand Scholarship is regarded as the most prestigious secondary school award available in New Zealand."
The Waikato Times spoke to Brown last year as he was preparing for 36 hours of exams, from Level 2 to Scholarship.
Scholarship-wise he sat and passed calculus and English and physics – the latter at outstanding level.
That success means about $2000 a year for three years when he starts further study.
But he has another year of school left. He has already passed NCEA Level 3 so he’s trying four more subjects.
"I'm just going to focus on getting as many scholarships as I can."
He’s also recently back from the National Youth Science Forum in Canberra, as one of four Kiwis selected to attend.
Other Waikato scholars to come out tops in scholarship exams include three who got an outstanding scholar award.
Pupils who registered to see their marked examination papers online can do so from today.
