Congratulations to our OzTREKK Community Leaders Scholarship winners!

3 January 2017

Congratulations to our three 2016 OzTREKK Community Leaders Scholarship winners:

University of Sydney Occupational Therapy School
Sharon Yeung is headed to Sydney OT School

Jannelle Chisholm, Bond University, Juris Doctor
Sharon Yeung, University of Sydney, Master of Occupational Therapy
Barinder Khehra, University of Sydney, Doctor of Medicine
If you missed it, we announced our winners December 16, 2016 via our Facebook page!
The OzTREKK Community Leaders Scholarships were created to assist students who have demonstrated leadership, compassion, and innovation in their communities. What we didn’t realise is that so many of you are so incredible! The task of choosing the top three was extremely difficult, but this is how we did it:
Bond University Law School
Future Bond JD student Jannelle Chisholm

Students were evaluated on their written letters and videos. It took approximately two months for our scholarship committee to review all applications. Many submissions had to be read/watched multiple times in order to absorb just how much some of the applicants had accomplished! In an office email, OzTREKK Director Jaime Notman commented that “there were a few jaw-dropping moments for me (where I read, re-read and re-read—again—to see if I was mistaken).”
The committee was truly blown away by the calibre of the applications! Such a of variety of community involvement, both on a local and a global scale, and there were certainly some applications that broke office silence—either with a laugh or a cheerful “wow!”
We also have to give a shout-out to the singers, the attempts at Aussie accents, and the didgeridoo players!
So what kind of community involvement did we see? A lot. Here are just a few examples:

  • CLOUD project, part of The NWC – Sustainable Travel for Impact and Community Development Projects in Dominican Republic, Haiti, Uganda, Kenya, Guyana
  • FITFAM – a health and fitness program to help encourage, educate and empower participants to live healthier lives, including weekly boot-camp class, nutrition challenges, health and wellness seminars, and sponsored 5K events.
  • Leader of a mobility fundraiser for wheelchairs delivered to Peru
  • Make Way For Me! Occupational Therapy for Children and Youth – Assisted in the creation, planning, and management as a Skill Development Summer Program, where program facilitators provided intensive services to address areas such as anxiety reduction, emotional regulation, social skills, printing development, and gross motor skills such as riding a bike.
  • President of the Caribbean Students Association – Raised awareness for the struggle of cultural integration, orchestrated events to raise money to donate to Haiti relief groups and donated backpacks to an elementary school in Saint Lucia.

University of Sydney Doctor of Medicine
Barinder Khehra will be studying medicine at Sydney Uni

The group evaluation was tough—the applications showed so much passion and purpose, we wanted to share the scholarship love with everyone! We watched many of the videos repeatedly, combed through written applications, and spent hours discussing and finally selecting the three winners.
It is difficult for the committee to express the appreciation we have for all of our applicants’ efforts. We understand many had likely taken weeks to plan and create their applications, and we want everyone to know we absorbed every detail.
Congratulations again, Barinder, Sharon, and Jannelle! OzTREKK is so proud of what you have accomplished thus far and we are excited to see the positive waves you’ll continue to make within your communities, even Down Under!
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Best wishes to all our OzTREKK students—we know you’ll make a difference!

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