Year 13 St Paul’s Collegiate School student Katie Trigg has recently been offered a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship from the University of Waikato.
The scholarship awards recipients – who have shown leadership, academic and cultural or sport success – approximately $10,000 for each year of their undergraduate degree.
Although the scholarship provides a significant financial leg up, Katie says, to her the scholarship is so much more than the money offered and that it is about the opportunities now available to her.
Katie will study a conjoint of music and computer engineering, which is exclusively offered at the University of Waikato.
“It’s given me the opportunity to do a conjoint degree, so I’m going to study computer science as well as performance music. This will give me a wider range of opportunities once I finish my degree.”
She also has the opportunity to work with one of New Zealand’s most internationally acclaimed opera singers, Dame Malvina Major, who commended Katie on her performance at the 2016 New Zealand ARIA competition.
Katie has boldly requested lessons with Dame Malvina, an opportunity that nearly no other first year music student gets.
“It would be really cool and a great opportunity to learn from someone who has had such an exciting career.”
Katie’s ultimate goal is to become an opera singer but she is not putting all her eggs in one basket, which is why computer science is also on the cards. She knows the pitfalls that surround the music industry.
“It’s really difficult to make it in the music industry or other performing arts, you always hear about the starving artist stereotype.”
The chances of her falling into the “starving artist stereotype” are slim with the 17-year-old achieving some notable music feats in the past 12 months.
She was selected as a member of the New Zealand Secondary School Choir and performed as a soloist for the choir at the International Choral Kathauminxw in Canada this year.
In early 2017 she will be making her way to the Big Apple, New York City, to perform at Carnegie Hall along with 100 other high school students from across the globe.
The scholarship will also allow Katie to focus 100 percent of her energy towards her studies.
“Since it is such a large scholarship, I don’t have to worry so much about working and will be able to focus more on my academics.”
When asked about her future Katie says she still holds on to the dream she had as a 7-year-old to perform for the Queen and she also hopes to one day sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
