On Thursday 5th September, we met with the 16 successful applicants who will be benefiting from our 2019 University Bursary programme. This year we had over 35 applicants from all the local senior schools making it even tougher than usual for our Grants to Individuals Panel to decide who should be awarded the money. The bursary is worth £3600 and is paid in instalments throughout the duration of the programme.
This year's cohort are studying a wide range of subjects including Law, Drama, Criminology, Finance and Accounting and Neuroscience. Their destinations include London, Leicester, Huddersfield, Northampton and Oxford Brooks. The students are all from a range of backgrounds and some have had to overcome significant challenges such as loosing a parent or disability. When making their selection, the panel were looking to identify those students who had a real aspiration to succeed and who would make the most of the opportunity provided.
Parents and siblings attended the event to congratulate the students as they received their certificate. Former recipients also came along to offer their advice and support.
New CEO David Steadman welcomed the students and spoke to them about his own experience as a recipient of a University Bursary. His advice to the students was to make the most of it the opportunities ahead of them and at some point in the future, to remember the help they were given and to consider 'paying it forward', to find a way of giving others the same opportunity that they had themselves.