Scholarships cash gives students a helping hand

Edward O'Daly

Diana Negri (left) with husband Graeme and daughter Hannah Photo: Kimberly Douglas

8 August 2006: Undergraduate students have been given a helping hand worth a total of almost $300,000 thanks to the 2006 round of scholarships.

At a ceremony last week some of the 152 students who have benefited from the year's $287,990 investment in their future were formally presented with their scholarships at ceremony attended by several of the scholarship program's sponsors.

Representatives of the Country Women's Association were particularly pleased to see their nursing scholarship, which is open to all nursing students, go to Diana Negri - a woman with a rural background.

"Health and education are issues the CWA pursues," Robina McCaffrey from the association, said.

"It's nice to see it go to a country woman."

Ms Negri said the money helped her buy textbooks and funded her membership of the Royal College of Nursing, which opened up important networking opportunities within the profession.

Alinta Williams, one of three recipients of the St Vincent de Paul Scholarship for Indigenous Students, said her scholarship made a real difference to her studies.

"I've been on exchange and spent a semester on a teaching internship, so I couldn't work, the scholarship makes life much easier," she said.

The first recipient of the University of Canberra Refugee Support Scholarship, Christiana Abakah, originally from Sierra Leone, said the scholarship was helping her achieve her lifelong dream of becoming a nurse. She stopped off en route to work at the Canberra Hospital to collect her scholarship certificate.