Top achievement earns medal for player

A badminton player who attended Hillcrest High School is the latest University of Waikato student to receive a Sir Edmund Hillary medal.

The prestigious medals are awarded to the top graduating Waikato University Hillary Scholars who achieve at the highest level academically and in their sport or performing arts and have also shown exceptional leadership while on the programme.

Badminton player Michael Fowke, based in The Netherlands where he works for a Dutch company and plays badminton for the Amersfoort club in the Dutch League, says his job came about from a summer research scholarship during his studies at Waikato.

He's excited by the opportunity to work overseas thanks to his Bachelor of Engineering (Hons), specialising in software.

"By the end of school I was sure that I wanted to do a software-related degree but I also enjoyed sciences, so software engineering stood out. It's a field that fits well with the travel required for badminton. There are plenty of job opportunities worldwide and you tend to be able to take your work with you if travelling for tournaments," he says.

His time on the Hillary programme has been a "huge factor" in being able to continue with high performance badminton and full time study, he says.

"The guest speakers and other support we were provided with all helped us to focus on what we really wanted to achieve in our time at uni and beyond."

In 2012, Michael was runner-up in the Oceania Badminton Championships in men's singles and winner of the New Zealand under 23 championships in men's doubles. The same year he was a member of the New Zealand men's team which competed at the badminton world team finals in Wuhan, China. In 2013 Michael became the New Zealand men's singles champion. He aims to continue to represent New Zealand and to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.