17 March 2011
Saint Ignatius' College Year 12 graduate Yen Pham has been acknowledged for her outstanding school results last year and personal qualities to be named South Australia's only Charles Hawker Scholarship recipient in 2011.
The articulate 17-year-old is one of only four Australians to receive a scholarship this year, which is valued at $45,000 over three years. It will fund her board at St Mark's College in North Adelaide while she studies law and arts at the University of Adelaide.
As part of her scholarship, she may also receive an opportunity to study at the prestigious University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Yen achieved an ATAR score of 99.8 last year including perfect scores for English Studies, Classical Studies and Philosophy. She was subsequently honoured as Dux of Saint Ignatius' College and awarded Academic and Co-curricular Full Colours to cap off a successful 2010 in which she was also a College Prefect.
A passionate environmentalist and skilled public speaker, Yen is thrilled with her scholarship and is looking forward to embarking on full-time university life without the financial burden normally associated with tertiary living.
"This scholarship will fund my accommodation expenses while studying at university and really is a huge bonus for me," said Yen, who is a first generation Australian after her parents arrived in the country as refugees.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge of tertiary studies and ultimately securing qualifications to pursue a career related to environmental management and climate change."
Yen's goal is to pursue a leadership role in an environmental non-government organisation and help solve the world's climate change crisis. Already she has excelled through her efforts with the Model United Nations where she was awarded the Boutras-Ghali Shield.
In addition, she has impressed with numerous volunteer roles including the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, tutoring migrants in English at the Adelaide School of Languages, assisting people with disabilities at the Strathmont Centre and working with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society on Fred's Van.
Hawker Trustee and family member Andrew Hawker congratulated Yen on her deserved scholarship success.
"Yen by any measure is a remarkable and quite exceptional young woman," he said.
"She will succeed in her determination to make a positive contribution to Australia and the planet."
Hawker Scholarships are one of the most generous privately-funded scholarships available to undergraduate students in Australia, with almost $4 million awarded to 94 young people since 1990.
The scholarships were established to perpetuate the memory of the late Charles Allan Seymour Hawker, who served in the First World War before going on to become a distinguished scholar and leading figure in the Federal Parliament. He is also regarded as one of the country’s most respected pastoral pioneers.
The scholarships are available to all Australian students with selection based on personal qualities as well as academic ability. They are generally awarded to students entering their first year of university study.
Yen and the three other scholarship winners from around Australia will be formally recognised by Governor-General Ms Quentin Bryce AC at a special ceremony at Government House in Canberra on May 6, 2011.
For more information about the scholarships, visit www.hawkerscholarship.org
FURTHER INFORMATION: Please contact Saint Ignatius' College - Tracey Finlay, Director of Development, on 8334 9356
ISSUED BY HUGHES PUBLIC RELATIONS: Please contact Kieran Hall, 08 8412 4100
