Last Friday, May 26, we celebrated the remarkable achievements of our NSW 2017 recipients at the Long Tan Bursary and Sponsored Scholarship presentation ceremony.
The presentation event was generously hosted by the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs office in Sydney. Thank you to the Sydney DVA staff who went above and beyond to ensure that the event ran smoothly for all of our guests.
The celebration of our students was made even more significant by the attendance of Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, The Hon Dan Tehan. The Minister spoke about the transformative power of education on young peoples’ lives and acknowledged the many success stories of our previous Long Tan Bursary recipients. AVCAT would like to thank the Minister, both for his attendance and for his tireless efforts to extend the financial support offered to those children of Vietnam Veterans who are completing their tertiary education.
Former Long Tan Bursary recipient, Margaret Loftus, also spoke at the event. In her speech, Margaret spoke gratefully of her late father, a Vietnam Veteran, and how the values he taught her – “strength, perseverance, organisation and discipline” – still permeate today in her academic and professional pursuits. Now in her final years of study, and working as an Associate Placement Consultant, Margaret asserted that the Long Tan Bursary gave her the financial means and personal motivation to make it through her studies.
Of course, we cannot fail to acknowledge the diverse and incredibly gifted group of 2017 NSW scholarship recipients, some of whom were not able to attend the event last Friday. These individuals, along with the generous sponsors who are supporting their tertiary education pursuits, are listed below:
2017 Long Tan Bursary Recipients – NSW
Catherine Allingham
Angel Cano
Adam Davidson
Jacob Morath
Luke Toutou
Dominik Turner
2017 Sponsored Scholarship Recipients
Corey East – Recipient of the AVCAT Peter Helson Scholarship
Sarah Swainson and Jack Warr – Recipients of the Brisbane Water Legacy (NSW) Club Scholarship
Madeleine Warburton, Jennifer Spark, Samantha Spark and Victoria Wells – Recipients of the Legacy Australia Westpac Scholarship
Sam (Maddie Cook) – Recipient of the Legacy Australia John Gough Scholarship
Gabrielle Sherring – Recipient of the Newtown RSL Sub-Branch Scholarship
Hannah Howard-Gilchrist – Recipient of the NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association Scholarship
Holly Carroll and Sebastian Moore – Recipients of the Royal Australian Regiment Foundation Scholarship
Dane Turner – Recipient of the RSL Queensland Scholarship
Madelaine Fern, Thomas Hooper and Catherine Auston – Recipients of the TPI NSW Scholarship
Ryan Balkin – Recipient of the VVPPAA Scholarship
John Mathieson – Recipient of the War Widows Guild of Australia (NSW) Scholarship
Our recipients have expressed their sincere thanks to their donors for the financial support and opportunity that these scholarships provide. Gabrielle, the 2017 Newtown RSL Sub-Branch Scholarship recipient, said “I am so grateful to receive this scholarship. It will afford me the ability to continue to live in Sydney as my family home is on a farm near Dubbo. Not having to worry about money for rent and other university expenses gives me the freedom to focus on my studies”.
Finally, the AVCAT team would like to thank all of the families and friends of our recipients who came along to celebrate in Sydney last Friday. We know some of you travelled great distances in order to attend and for that we are very grateful. Our recipients are of great credit to you and we hope you are immensely proud of them – all of the team at AVCAT definitely are!
