Each year, sons and daughters of Ravensdown New Zealand shareholders are eligible for the Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship. Founded in 2000 to commemorate the late Hugh Williams – a Director of the Co-op from 1987-2000, this scholarship provides $5000 per year to undertake an agricultural or horticultural degree. Applicants are short-listed from an initial essay and application, and then interviewed by a selection committee including Adrienne Williams, Board members Bevan Watt and Chris Dennison and a member of Ravensdown’s Human Resources team.

To register your interest in the Hugh Williams scholarship, please email jobs@ravensdown.co.nz. For more information on the scholarship, please click here.

To see if you're eligible to apply for the scholarship, click here.

2011 Scholarship Winner - Monica Schwass
Monica, who is a Bachelor of Agricultural Science student at Lincoln University, says she was thrilled to be awarded the 2011 scholarship. “It takes huge financial stress out of the next couple of years. Instead of chipping away at the student loan every holiday, I will be able to focus on learning more and getting myself ahead.”

On completing her study, she’d like to look at something like research work to “put back into an industry which I see as the basis of New Zealand’s existence; an industry which is of upmost importance now and will be even more so in the future as primary products become more of a priority to consumers”.

Monica grew up in North Canterbury where her parents farm sheep and beef property, Kaiora Downs, near Culverden. The former Villa Maria College student started a Bachelor of Veterinary Science at Massey University in 2010. However, despite good marks, she changed to a Bachelor of Science majoring in Agriculture after realising this was more the direction she wanted to take. She moved the degree to Lincoln University this year.

2010 Scholarship Winner - Ben Hindmarsh
For agriculture to continue to develop requires a stream of well educated agriculturalists, entering the industry, says Ben Hindmarsh the winner of the 2010 Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship.

From the Hawkes Bay, Ben is a first-year student at Lincoln University, studying toward a Bachelor of Commerce in Agricultural Management. Ben hopes to own his own farm and wants to be able to use his degree to further his agricultural knowledge.

“The scholarship will cover my fees and means I’ll have a better kick-start to my career. I also have some practical requirements for my degree, so the opportunity to work in a business setting will be useful.  I feel very privileged to be involved with Ravensdown”

2009 Scholarship Winner - Kim Speedy
20-year-old Lincoln University student Kim Speedy says agriculture is for him...
The winner of the 2009 Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship says he likes the farming lifestyle and the outdoors, “… but most of all, it is a prime example of what you put in, you get out, and the fact that you can always improve.”

Kim is a third year student at Lincoln University, studying for a degree in Agricultural Commerce. Kim grew up on a family farm on the East Coast of the North Island and was educated at Lindisfarne College in Hastings. He took a gap year after leaving school – when he did a season at Takapau freezing works, worked on an outback cattle station in Australia’s Northern Territory and then did a couple of months working for a drilling operation in Townsville. His main hobby is hunting.

Education, he says, gives him “more knowledge to evaluate situations and not just follow what other farmers are doing”.

2008 Scholarship Winner - Jackie Gibson
Bullish talk about prospects for New Zealand agriculture attracted the winner of the 2008 Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship to study Agriculture.

Jackie Gibson, a graduate of Lincoln University, and now an Account Manager for Ravensdown, grew up on a 230-ha cropping farm at Papakaio north of Oamaru owned by her parents Jim and Carol Gibson. Having gained her degree in agricultural commerce she describes New Zealand's agricultural industry as "an industry that’s growing. You can go anywhere with it – there are so many aspects to it."

Jackie says the scholarship has helped her pursue her interest in farming.

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