Council Chair John Peden QC, Vice Chancellor and President of UQ Deborah Terry AO, Warden Rose Alwyn, Foundation Chair Peter Sullivan, Student Lucy O'Connor, Paul Conaghan, and Alumna Sasaka Bandaraayake at the Create Change, Create Futures launch event
St John's College recently launched the Create Change, Create Futures campaign as part of our commitment to enabling students who are experiencing personal and financial hardship to benefit from a College experience.
In response to financial equity as a barrier to education, The University of Queensland established the Create Change Scholarship Match program. St John's College is a proud partner.
At the recent launch event, Ms Lucy O’Connor, a current St John’s College student and scholarship recipient conveyed the important role scholarships have made in her College and University career.
Ms O’Connor said,
“I am so grateful to be the recipient of two scholarships: The Sasaka Bandaranayake Scholarship for Rural and Regional Women and the Keith and Annette Bennett Engineering Scholarship. These scholarships have allowed me to stay at St John’s while studying”.
“These scholarships have also enabled me to be a Resident Advisor, play on sports teams, volunteer, and apply for internships. Without these scholarships, I would have needed to work in my casual job for hundreds more hours each year and not been able to participate in these enriching activities”.
Alumna, Dr. Sasaka Bandaranayake, echoed Ms O’Connor’s sentiments.
Dr Bandaranayake said,
“For my parents, sending their 17-year-old daughter to the 'big smoke' to attend university, was a huge decision – financially, socially, culturally, and emotionally. Many personal sacrifices were made. Every dollar counted”.
“By giving to this Create Change initiative, we are not only supporting our friends and others like them, we also start to bridge social and cultural gaps and contribute to the rich tapestry of people attending College and within University, which can only benefit society at large”.
St John’s College has committed to creating $1,000,000 worth of scholarships which will be matched by UQ. This will result in $2,000,0000 in residential scholarships for future UQ and St John’s College students.
To learn more about Create Change, Create Futures, please click here.