The Māori education scholarship is worth $15,000 and is presented annually to two outstanding Māori students undertaking Masters or PhD-level study from a select group of academic fields.
It’s great news for Tash, (Te Ātiawa, Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Toa), who has worked part-time throughout her five years at Victoria, and currently juggles multiple jobs.
The psychology student is “honoured and grateful” to receive such a prestigious scholarship.
She says the scholarship “is a big financial support”. “It means I can put my energy into my Master’s and learning everything I can.”
Her thesis investigates changes in the brain following exposure to drug of abuse. She hopes to complete her thesis in March, and eventually forge a career that allows her “go out to the Maori community and really make a difference”.
Tash says Māori bear a disproportionate amount of the burden of drug addiction, and she hopes her research could help change that.