Diocesan Dux Wins Coveted Scholarship to Cambridge

April 2, 2013

Diocesan Dux Wins Coveted Scholarship to Cambridge

Former Diocesan School student and 2012 Dux, Kerry Mackereth, has been awarded a coveted scholarship worth around $180,000 to attend Cambridge University in England where she will major in Political Science.

The 18-year-old Auckland University student has won the 2013 Girdlers’ Scholarship which is given to one outstanding New Zealander each year to cover their university and college fees and some living expenses while they complete a degree at Cambridge.

The scholarship is the latest of several awards and accolades Ms Mackereth has received.

They include a national Zonta Young Woman in Public Affairs award in 2012 that recognised her leadership skills and commitment to public service and civic causes and a $50,000 Auckland University scholarship. She also displayed excellent results in her International Baccalaureate examinations, receiving a total score of 44 points out of a possible 45.

The £25,000 per annum Girdlers’ Scholarship is administered by Universities New Zealand-Te Pōkai Tara, and funded by the Girdlers’ Company, a livery company in the City of London, which was founded in medieval times as a craftsmen’s guild.

The Girdlers’ Company has strong links with New Zealand and has provided the scholarship since 1950.

“Cambridge is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, so I am very excited to be going there,” said Ms Mackereth, who will study a Tripos degree in Human, Political and Social Sciences.

The Hillsborough teenager, who began a Law and Arts conjoint degree at Auckland University this year, will begin studying at Cambridge in October after visiting her brother Stephen who is studying Mathematics and Philosophy at Harvard.

Ms Mackereth has been committed to helping others since the age of six when her parents worked on Mercy Ships.

During her years at Auckland’s Diocesan School she made the most of opportunities to be involved in service work including being the Service Prefect, running the 40-Hour Famine and setting up a school branch of the Twinkle Child Foundation which helps hospitalised children. She also participated in a range of musical and cultural activities, playing the double bass for five years in Diocesan’s Chamber Orchestra among others and participating in choirs, musicals and cultural groups.

She says her early interest in Political Science and International Relations was consolidated when she was researching New Zealand’s 1980s anti-nuclear stance for an extended essay that was part of her two-year International Baccalaureate Diploma.

Her long term goal is to work in the field of humanitarian aid and development programmes with an agency such as the United Nations.

“Humanitarian work is what I want to be doing for the rest of my life. Eventually I would like to come back to settle in New Zealand but right now I’m taking everything one step at a time.”

“I feel extremely honoured to be the 2013 Girdler’s scholar, especially in light of the other high calibre candidates who applied for the scholarship this year. I am very grateful to the selection committee for giving me this opportunity. I would like to thank my parents and my teachers who have educated me and supported me throughout this process. I look forward to my first semester and everything my experiences at Cambridge will bring.”

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