Te Arawa students to benefit from new fund

Beverley Anaru. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Tertiary students who are whakapapa to Te Arawa will benefit from the Beverley Anaru Memorial Scholarship Fund managed by the Geyser Community Foundation.

Geyser's chairman Pat Brown said the Foundation was honoured to have been chosen to manage the postgraduate and undergraduate scholarships on behalf of the Anaru whanau.

"Trustees are pleased to announce the opening of this very special Fund, which was established last year through the generosity of a significant gift from Beverley Anaru's husband, Pita Anaru."

Pita Anaru said his late wife, Beverley was a skilled and passionate educationalist who gave over 60 years of service to education.

"Her career spanned teaching, management, governance and advisory roles both nationally and internationally. Her work ethic, professionalism and passion for education were renowned in the local community, as was her commitment to seeing young Maori succeed through education.

"The Geyser Community Foundation is the ideal vehicle in which to honour Beverley's memory and to make an enduring contribution to the educational achievement of Te Arawa descendants.

"Beverley was guided strongly by her personal philosophy: He aha te mea nui o tea o, he tamaiti, he tamaiti, he tamaiti (What is the most important thing in the world, the child, the child, the child).

"Through her role as education consultant for the Ngati Whakaue Education Endowment Trust Board, she worked in collaboration with schools, whanau and the community to enhance educational outcomes for Rotorua children.

"In 1995, Beverley was awarded a Queen's Service Medal for public service in recognition of her contribution to education, and received a multi service teaching award for reading and language."

The Fund provides scholarships for the advancement of education to Te Arawa descendants studying at NZQA Level 4 or above.

The donor and whanau hope that the recipients of the annual scholarships will be committed to contributing to the development and prosperity of the Te Arawa iwi, hapu and whanau.

Two postgraduate scholarships with a value of $10,000 each and four undergraduate scholarships each with a value of $5,000 are available this year.

Further information, including application forms can be downloaded from Geyser's website www.geysercf.org.nz

Funding applications open on July 1 and close on September 30 2016.