The Bay of Plenty Education Trust has hit the $2 million mark in terms of money gifted to local youth for their tertiary education endeavours.

Those gathered at scholarship ceremonies in Tauranga and Whakatane last week heard how $2,081,750 has been received over the years by 409 students from coastal BOP colleges thanks to the Trust’s Science, Technology and Emerging Industries Scholarships.

The latest recipients officially received their scholarships at ceremonies last week.

The 14 Western BOP scholarship winners are:

Logan Murray and Vince Escaran (Tauranga Boys’ College), Kate Dekker (Aquinas College), Katie Seng Woon Chua and Rachel Wahab (Ōtūmoetai College), Manu Gates and Danica Fisher (Tauranga Girls’ College), Benjamin Salmon (Bethlehem College), Michael Kean (Katikati College), Cameron Paterson (Te Puke High School), Harriet Van Der Westhuizen and Adrena Palmer (Pāpāmoa College), and Joe Chapman and Ruby Burt (Mt Maunganui College).

They were joined by six Eastern Bay of Plenty recipients.

Each year the Trust gifts scholarships to as many as 20 students graduating from coastal high schools and colleges between Katikati and Ōpōtiki.

Each receives $6,000 distributed over the years of tertiary study.

Colleges with more than 1000 students are eligible for two scholarships, with the winners determined by the individual colleges/high schools.

This year’s Eastern BOP recipients are: Deepak Joshi and Rhys Robertson (Whakatane High School), Brayden Andrews (Trident High School), Shinaid O'Regan (Edgecumbe College), Atutahi Porter (Ōpōtiki College) and Trizhana Wade (Tarawera High School).

Bay of Plenty Education Trust chairman Nick Earl says investing in the tertiary education of the Bay’s young people has long been a focus of the Trust, which also assists in other areas of the community.

The Trust also supports the InStep Programme run by Priority One, and its Eastern Bay of Plenty equivalent, the ToiEDA; and, in 2021, introduced supplementary grants as a way of expanding its community support.

The most recent recipients of those supplementary grants are Western and Eastern BOP House of Science organisations, The Graeme Dingle Trust and Blue Light (Tauranga and Whakatane).

The Trust has been operating since 1985.