Top Energy $10k engineering scholarship helps Awanui teen chase aerospace dream

Carter Bird from Awanui is looking forward to attending Waikato University next month.

A childhood fascination with space and a well-written personal statement has earned an Awanui teenager a $10,000 engineering scholarship.

Carter Bird was recently awarded the Top Energy Engineering Scholarship and is now preparing to begin his aerospace engineering studies at Waikato University.

In order to receive the bursary, Bird had to submit a personal statement and his impressed Top Energy, with chief executive Russell Shaw saying it was so impressive they decided to share it in its entirety.

“It embodies the spirit behind our desire to encourage and promote professional development for Far North students,” Shaw said.

The Top Energy Engineering Scholarship provides a one-off $10,000 payment to a local school leaver intending to study a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) at the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury or Waikato, and may include relevant holiday work with the company.

In his personal statement Bird said his love for all things aerospace was sparked at a young age.

In his statement he wrote he decided to become an engineer at 11 years old after watching “a mediocre sci-fi movie”.

He said the movie made him think about the vastness of the universe and at that moment he decided he wanted to be a part of it.

“My first dream job was becoming an astronaut,” Bird told the Northland Age.

“And then I kind of fell in love with space and like the physics behind it. So, when came time to like to choose a career pathway, I decided on engineering and kind of like set my focus towards mechanical/aerospace engineering.”

He said the bursary provided him with relief of not having to worry about the financial burdens that come with being a student.

“The scholarship was a big help, so like the financial side of it is kind of sorted now. So yeah, it’s put my mind at ease a bit.”

Born in Sydney, Bird moved to the Far North when he was three and grew up in Awanui. He hopes to one day bring his skills back to the region.

He has ambitions of also completing a business degree and with that creating opportunities for Far North residents.

“I would love to open some kind of business up here some day.”