Rangitāne o Wairau General Manager Corey Hebberd, right, with Marlborough Lines Chief Executive Officer Tim Cosgrove, is encouraging Māori with local whakapapa links to apply for the annual Marlborough Lines Tertiary Scholarship for Māori.
Working together, lighting the pathway to success
Nau mai, haere mai. Marlborough Lines is calling on the region’s bright sparks to apply for its annual Tertiary Scholarship for Māori.
Set up in 1997, the scholarship is offered to a tertiary student who resides in Wairau and who has links to one or more of the tangata whenua iwi in the Marlborough Lines catchment area – Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Ngāti Toa Rangatira ki Wairau, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Koata, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Rārua, Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui and Ngāi Tahu.
To date, the scholarship has supported 20 Wairau locals in their tertiary studies, including well-known local singer and police officer Spencer Kingi and cultural expert Kiley Nepia.
Marlborough Lines Chief Executive Officer Tim Cosgrove says one of the hopes is that the recipients will return home after studying to utilise their skills and knowledge in Marlborough.
“And that’s certainly what we are seeing. While not all our recipients still live here, a big chunk of them are drawn home and continue to contribute to their communities. Supporting that earlier step into tertiary study is a no-brainer and we’re proud that this scholarship has endured for more than two decades now.”
Corey Hebberd, General Manager for Rangitāne o Wairau, said the Marlborough Lines scholarship had been long prized.
“We are certainly grateful to Marlborough Lines for this support and we’d like to encourage all our local whānau who intend to study at the teriary level next year to apply. We have a lot of talent in this rohe and, for some, this could be the difference between studying or not. So we’d love to see whānau get stuck in and give it a shot.”
The scholarship is open to both school leavers and adult learners. Call Marlborough Lines on 03 577 7007 for an application form or give your local iwi office or college a call. Application forms are also available to collect from Marlborough Lines, Alfred St, Blenheim.