Scholarship For Top Student
Scholarship For Top Student
Nicole Sycamore, one of the top students at Christchurch Girls' High in 2008, has been awarded the Christchurch Radiology Group (CRG) Tertiary Scholarship for 2009.
The award, worth $12,000 over three years, is presented each year to a student going on to tertiary study in a health-related field. Schools are invited to put forward one candidate, and among a highly able group, Nicole's energy, enthusiasm and all round achievements impressed the judges.
Nicole says that although there's no particular family background in science, she's been drawn to it since she was a young girl. Nicole studied maths and sciences exclusively during Year 13, winning prizes in statistics and modeling, physics, and biology.
Last month Nicole began first year Health Sciences at Otago University, which she hopes will lead to entry into medical school in 2010. She says competition is stiff, and worries about retaining a work/life balance through the year. It's likely to be an unfounded concern.
Along with gaining 100 excellence credits in NCEA 1&2 and being presented with the prestigious Girls' High Peggy Storrar Award for academic achievement, Nicole found time to represent her school in tennis and netball, attain life-saving awards, and coach netball and life-saving. She competed in athletics until she was 15 and now runs longer distances for pleasure. Nicole also enjoys competitive tennis with Waimari Tennis Club and winter skiing in Queenstown.
"I was thrilled to receive the CRG scholarship," she says. "I'm really enjoying being down here with a lot of my friends from school. I've got a full-on focus on getting into medical school, but I'd like to keep up my running and tennis and hopefully manage to get to the mountains in winter."
Though it's early days, Nicole already has an idea of where she'd like to be in future. Research is a definite option, as is becoming a specialist, where Nicole has an eye to becoming an ophthalmologist.
