When Cassandra Hill learned her daughter Gabrielle would receive a life changing scholarship to help her stay and excel in school, she broke down in tears.
Gabrielle Hill, 14, a year 9 student at Shailer Park State High School, is one of nine female students from across Logan to be identified as a “high potential girl” and awarded a scholarship worth more than $20,000 to help support her studies through the Harding Miller Education Foundation.
“In the last 12 months, my husband and Gabrielle’s father Dan, he works in the building industry and he hadn’t been working for quite some time. So when the school offered Gabrielle to apply for the scholarship, it couldn’t have come at a better time for us,” Ms Hill said.
“When she was successful, I pretty much burst into tears.”
Gabrielle, who is in both academic programs at Shailer Park State High, says her dream is to go on to study biomedical engineering at university, and this scholarship will help her to get there.
“At the award ceremony we had just last week, they had a lot of engineers come in and greet us and we got to ask quite a few questions to them,” she said.
“I realised, I am really interested in pursuing biomedical engineering.
“It opened up a new pathway for me.
“I have already spent $650 to pay for academic fees.”
According to a recent report by Engineers Australia, the percentage of female engineers in engineering roles is much less than that of males – with only 11.2% of working engineers in Australia are women.
Gabrielle says she wants to be a part of a new generation of female engineers and is grateful for the opportunities she has been given.
“It’s such a wonderful thing that they’re able to give us the educational resources that others unfortunately don’t have; I feel so lucky and privileged to have this,” she said.
Executive director Cara Varian says the foundation’s scholarships provide the girls with a new laptop, high speed internet connections, tutoring, career guidance and support to help cover the costs of uniforms, books and school expenses.
“Where these young women have faced barriers, we are offering them a pathway through school and also potentially to university,” Ms Varian said.
“These students have the potential to become leaders in their fields and we hope that the scholarship gives them the support they need to understand and achieve that potential.”
