Scholarship Recipients
2022 Scholarship Recipients

The winner of the Neil Sinclair Memorial Scholarship for 2022 is Kathryn Page.
Kathryn is completing a Graduate Diploma in Science Technology majoring in Psychology and will follow this with a Master of Science Psychology with endorsement in Health Psychology at Ara – Kathryn is a qualified nurse and worked in many emergency departments in rural and remote areas of Australia, has been a medic in NZ Airforce and a nurse at Ashburton Hospital. Community wise she has been involved in Habitat for Humanity building project in Fiji and been on the Medic Ship in Papua New Guinea. She loves the outdoors and is a passionate trail runner, her greatest personal achievement to date is raising her 6-year-old daughter. With the life experiences that Kathryn has had and the continuing education she is undertaking we know that Kathryn will contribute greatly to her chosen profession on completion of her studies.
Photo:
Jeanette Sinclair with recipient Kathryn Page.
Kathryn is completing a Graduate Diploma in Science Technology majoring in Psychology and will follow this with a Master of Science Psychology with endorsement in Health Psychology at Ara – Kathryn is a qualified nurse and worked in many emergency departments in rural and remote areas of Australia, has been a medic in NZ Airforce and a nurse at Ashburton Hospital. Community wise she has been involved in Habitat for Humanity building project in Fiji and been on the Medic Ship in Papua New Guinea. She loves the outdoors and is a passionate trail runner, her greatest personal achievement to date is raising her 6-year-old daughter. With the life experiences that Kathryn has had and the continuing education she is undertaking we know that Kathryn will contribute greatly to her chosen profession on completion of her studies.
Photo:
Jeanette Sinclair with recipient Kathryn Page.
Alister Smyth Scholarship:
Roslyn Cuter Georgia Harvey Harrison Mckee Gwyneth and Barry Parsons Scholarship: Isaac Langley Thomas Schmack Rosemary Taggart Johnston Brothers Scholarship: Gemma Taylor Artem Kravchenko Ian Glassey Memorial Scholarship: Ella Yeatman Sophie Bonnington Samantha Fitzgerald Evan and Heather Glass Scholarship: Penina Vaaelua Graham Gunn Scholarship: Erin Connelly-Whyte Tinwald Club Scholarship: Josh Jones Glen McClea |
Plains Rotary - Industry Training Scholarship:
Kyle Proffit Ashburton Jaycees - Personal Development Scholarship: Penny Costello Jamie Smitheram Ashburton Jaycees - Industry Training Scholarship: Nicholas Ross Vernon Roux Amber Rose Erin Watson Isileli Ula James Smith George Seque Kaden Forrester UFS Health Science Scholarship Simon Aitken-Wheeler Aleisha Miller Kate O'Reilly Ruby Goodes Bianca Birchler-Stockdill Neil Sinclair Memorial Scholarship Kathryn Page |
2021 Leader's Scholarship Recipient

At a recent Donors’ function, the winners of the Advance Ashburton Leaders’ Scholarship for 2021 were announced: Tiipene Philip and Kaylib Gorrie.
Chair of the Foundation, Mary Ross, said the calibre of this year’s applications was so high that a joint award was made. A member of the selection committee, Sir Graeme Harrison, was impressed with both successful applicants and he contributed to the award, to a total of $15,000.
This scholarship is to enhance the leadership skills of outstanding Mid Cantabrians, to enable them to grow their leadership skills and enhance their capability of helping create a better Ashburton district.
Funds for the award were first raised at a breakfast fundraiser hosted by Sir Stephen Tindall in 2017 at the newly established EA Networks pavilion at Trotts Garden. This was a sold-out event and the proceeds raised established this new Leaders’ scholarship.
Both winners of this year’s award were humbled by the award and reaffirmed their ambition to help and support our district through their leadership roles.
Tiipene, a Warden and Trustee at the Hakatere Marae and Kahui Across School Teacher at the College, will use the scholarship to help improve capacity and leadership for Māori services provided on a volunteer basis for people of all ethnicities in the district.
Kaylib, Deputy Principal at Mt Hutt College, will continue his Master of Educational Leadership at Canterbury University, and develop his Wellbeing Tool currently on trial at the College.
‘The Foundation is delighted to recognise and support the leaders in our community with this award,”
says Mrs. Ross.
Photo
Kaylib Gorrie (left) and Tiipene Philip accept their award from Sir Graeme Harrison, a member of the selection panel
At a recent Donors’ function, the winners of the Advance Ashburton Leaders’ Scholarship for 2021 were announced: Tiipene Philip and Kaylib Gorrie.
Chair of the Foundation, Mary Ross, said the calibre of this year’s applications was so high that a joint award was made. A member of the selection committee, Sir Graeme Harrison, was impressed with both successful applicants and he contributed to the award, to a total of $15,000.
This scholarship is to enhance the leadership skills of outstanding Mid Cantabrians, to enable them to grow their leadership skills and enhance their capability of helping create a better Ashburton district.
Funds for the award were first raised at a breakfast fundraiser hosted by Sir Stephen Tindall in 2017 at the newly established EA Networks pavilion at Trotts Garden. This was a sold-out event and the proceeds raised established this new Leaders’ scholarship.
Both winners of this year’s award were humbled by the award and reaffirmed their ambition to help and support our district through their leadership roles.
Tiipene, a Warden and Trustee at the Hakatere Marae and Kahui Across School Teacher at the College, will use the scholarship to help improve capacity and leadership for Māori services provided on a volunteer basis for people of all ethnicities in the district.
Kaylib, Deputy Principal at Mt Hutt College, will continue his Master of Educational Leadership at Canterbury University, and develop his Wellbeing Tool currently on trial at the College.
‘The Foundation is delighted to recognise and support the leaders in our community with this award,”
says Mrs. Ross.
Photo
Kaylib Gorrie (left) and Tiipene Philip accept their award from Sir Graeme Harrison, a member of the selection panel
2020 Leader's Scholarship Recipient

Associate Principal and Head of ICT/e-learning at Allenton Primary School, Kerrin Corcoran, is the 2020 recipient of Advance Ashburton Community Foundation’s Leader’s Scholarship.
Kerrin wants educators and students in our district to become digitally fluent. This fluency is vital to meet education needs now, as shown during the current Covid crisis, and in the future. “I strongly believe that digital tools offer great opportunities to enhance learning and improve educational outcomes for all,” she says.
Kerrin strongly believes the focus needs to be on digital capability for educators and students. “We are all learners, as the digital landscape is forever changing and evolving. The challenge is not to know how everything ‘works’ . . . the challenge is to become digitally fluent, so we are capable of choosing the right digital tool to meet our needs or desired outcome.”
The Foundation was impressed by Kerrin’s passion to build digital capacity not only of students and teachers, but also of the wider Mid-Canterbury community.
Kerrin’s plan is to establish the Mid Canterbury e-Learning Network which will provide an opportunity for educators to network and learn from each other how to develop their and their student’s digital capabilities. She believes Mid Canterbury has a history of being innovative in its approach to new initiatives involving digital technologies. The development of an e-Learning Network will allow these innovations to be shared with colleagues to develop the capabilities within our wider community.
The Foundation’s Scholarship of $10,000 will allow Kerrin to undertake further study and become a Google Certified Teacher and Certified Trainer using the Google Suite. Units will include digital safety, tools for diverse learners and supporting English language learners. Kerrin will learn what true facilitation of learning in the classroom looks like and practical strategies for reaching every student.
“I believe that the professional development and leadership opportunities that this scholarship will allow me to undertake will benefit the Mid Canterbury community as we all build our digital capabilities,” says Kerrin.
Kerrin wants educators and students in our district to become digitally fluent. This fluency is vital to meet education needs now, as shown during the current Covid crisis, and in the future. “I strongly believe that digital tools offer great opportunities to enhance learning and improve educational outcomes for all,” she says.
Kerrin strongly believes the focus needs to be on digital capability for educators and students. “We are all learners, as the digital landscape is forever changing and evolving. The challenge is not to know how everything ‘works’ . . . the challenge is to become digitally fluent, so we are capable of choosing the right digital tool to meet our needs or desired outcome.”
The Foundation was impressed by Kerrin’s passion to build digital capacity not only of students and teachers, but also of the wider Mid-Canterbury community.
Kerrin’s plan is to establish the Mid Canterbury e-Learning Network which will provide an opportunity for educators to network and learn from each other how to develop their and their student’s digital capabilities. She believes Mid Canterbury has a history of being innovative in its approach to new initiatives involving digital technologies. The development of an e-Learning Network will allow these innovations to be shared with colleagues to develop the capabilities within our wider community.
The Foundation’s Scholarship of $10,000 will allow Kerrin to undertake further study and become a Google Certified Teacher and Certified Trainer using the Google Suite. Units will include digital safety, tools for diverse learners and supporting English language learners. Kerrin will learn what true facilitation of learning in the classroom looks like and practical strategies for reaching every student.
“I believe that the professional development and leadership opportunities that this scholarship will allow me to undertake will benefit the Mid Canterbury community as we all build our digital capabilities,” says Kerrin.