Harrison Bates plans on studying to teach modern history.
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Owen Sinclair
It’s no secret that moving away for university is a big deal.
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For many rural students, leaving home for tertiary education is an expensive proposition, often involving leaving behind their bases of moral and financial support.
But thanks to a generous scholarship program, two Cobram Secondary College students are on the way to achieving their dreams.
Harrison Bates, 18, and Ebony Orzegowski, 15, have received scholarships from the prestigious Young Australia League.
The pair recently returned from Perth, where they had the chance to meet Western Australian Governor Chris Dawson at Government House on St George’s Terrace.
Harrison and Ebony are YAL scholars.
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Contributed
After studying hard at high school, Harrison has settled on taking a gap year to boost his savings.
He received the YAL and Apex Cobram-Barooga post-secondary scholarship, valued at $8000 per year.
“I applied for it and I thought I’d see what happened, and I’m really honoured to have gotten it,” Harrison said.
“When we went to Perth, I got to meet the governor. I would never have thought I’d come from Barooga to meet the governor of a state.”
Saving up his pennies by working at the Barooga Hotel, Harrison is putting some of his scholarship money towards buying his first car.
He plans to take his passion for the humanities one step further by studying history at university, which he hopes to teach.
“I’m interested in all kinds of history, but I’d say the one that calls to me the easiest is that more modern history,” he said.
“It’s really interesting to see how society has developed super quickly in the last 100 years, you know. One hundred years ago, we had just finished with the first world war, and we were in the Roaring Twenties.”
For Ebony, the scholarship — which includes $3000 per year across two years — has already made a big difference.
“It takes off a lot of financial stress form me and my mum. I was able to get a laptop for the first time, and glasses too,” Ebony said.
A multi-instrumentalist of the French horn, guitar and piano, Ebony also sings.
She also used some of her scholarship money to attend the NEVR Music Camp at Beechworth.
Planning ahead, she has already put aside the rest for when she hopes to study journalism at university.
“Journalism has been my thing since I was little, really,” Ebony said.
“I’ve always been a storyteller; writing has always been a part of my life.”
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