The 2023 Scholarship Ceremony was held at UCOL Te Pūkenga Whanganui on Thursday, October 5, with a record number of 47 scholarships being awarded.
One student was described as being a modern-day Florence Nightingale. Charlene McGechan is an A-grade student who keeps on giving. Now in the final year of her Bachelor of Nursing degree, Charlene has packed a lot into her UCOL years.
She has peer tutored Year 1 nursing students and is UCOL Te Pūkenga peer mentor for Pasifika students in a Whanganui pilot programme, which if successful, will be adopted by Te Pūkenga throughout New Zealand.
She has raised significant Givealittle funds after Cyclone Harold, to rebuild her demolished Fijian village, and sent used UCOL stovetops to a remote Fijian school and a charity that feeds underprivileged children.
She has taught Fijian women from the community to cook budget-friendly meals and her greatest sense of giving was with her fellow nursing student, Valisi Savu, who funded the Loloma Pasifika Scholarship since 2021 to a Pasifika nursing student.
