2013 St Paul’s Collegiate graduate, Paul Newton-Jackson, has been offered the Girdlers’ Scholarship to complete an undergraduate degree in Music Composition at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, United Kingdom. The scholarship is valued at twenty-five thousand pounds per annum and covers the cost of tuition, living expenses and flights home to New Zealand.
Paul says the opportunity to study Music Composition at Cambridge University will be a life changing experience and he hopes the connections he makes at the university will enable him to bring the music of young New Zealand composers to international audiences.
Paul says that the music course offered at Cambridge University, which includes weekly composers’ workshops, will be intensive yet rewarding: “Cambridge was the first university in the world to offer a dedicated music qualification, so it’s the ultimate university for an academic musician.”
The Girdlers Scholarship is presented annually to one New Zealand student who demonstrates strong academic success and regular participation in extracurricular and community-related activities. Newton-Jackson is the fiftieth Girdlers’ Scholarship recipient. The last St Paul’s student to receive this scholarship was Caleb Ward in 1999; he is now chief resident paediatrics at the John’s Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA.
Headmaster Grant Lander stated that Newton-Jackson is a remarkable, multi-talented young person who characterises a hardworking and contributing member of society: “Paul excels in all aspects of life; he achieved great academic success in all of his Scholarship subjects, is a musical genius and impressively shows a willingness to give something regularly back to his community through volunteer work.”
“In a modest, measured manner, Paul managed his role as 2013 deputy head boy with amazing academic feats and musical success, which resulted in two prestigious scholarship offers. We are proud to have him as a positive role model who has given other St Paul’s Collegiate School students something to aspire to,” Headmaster Lander said.
On the conclusion of his studies at St Paul’s in 2013, Newton-Jackson accepted a Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship to study a conjoint degree in electrical engineering and music at the University of Waikato. The Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship covers the full cost of tuition of an undergraduate degree and provides financial support for halls of residence.
Newton-Jackson will head to Cambridge University in October this year. The scholarship will be formally presented to Newton-Jackson at an event at the Wellington Club this evening, which will be hosted by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English.
Paul Newton-Jackson achievements
2013 academic achievements:
- Dux of the school
- New Zealand Scholarship Outstanding Scholar (one of New Zealand’s top 60 scholars)
- Received two Outstanding Scholarship Examination passes and three Scholarship Examination passes
- Completed five NCEA Level 3 subjects gaining NCEA Level 3 with Excellence.
- GPA of 95%.
2011-2012 academic achievements:
- GPA: 98% 2012; 93% 2011
- Winner of Waikato ChemQuest 2012
- Top student in New Zealand for Cambridge IGCSE Music (year 13 level as a year 11 student) 2011
- Achieved 94% in NCEA Level 2 Mathematics (as a year 11 student) 2011
- NCEA Levels 1 and 2 with Excellence
Extracurricular achievements:
- Winner of Hamilton City Council Youth Awards Supreme Award 2013
- Winner of Outlook For Someday environmental film-making award 2013
- Winner of NZCT Chamber Music Contest Stratum Award for Best Performance 2013
- Winner of NZCT Chamber Music Contest Highly Commended Award 2013
- Winner of NZCT Chamber Music Contest Original Composition Performance Award 2013
