March 24, 2022
Ivy league scholarship boost for Māori
Applications are open for a scholarship programme aimed at helping Māori high school students get into some of the world’s top universities.
Shay Wright, who’s one of the judges for Crimson Education’s Te Ara ā Kupe Beaton Scholarship, says so far the scholarship has paid out more than $250,000 to help rangatahi into Ivy League universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford in the United States and Oxford and Cambridge in the UK.
He says the name of the programme is a reminder of Kupe’s exploration of vast oceans to find a better life for his people – and it’s a pathway that works.
“We have people like Shane Jones, Sacha McMeeking, Kiri Toki, Kingi Snelgar, Maia Wikaira who have gone out there and studied at prestigious university, come back here and they have made a massive difference for Maoridom and our communities so where we can assist in helping rangatahi do the same, we’re all for it,” Mr Wright says.
Applications for Te Ara ā Kupe Beaton Scholarships close on April 11.