Qld youngsters awarded Rural Bank scholarships

Queenslanders Sarah Coggan and Kate McCollough were part of the group of 19 recipients for 2020, who will receive financial support to the value of $5000.

Miss Coggan, who hails from a mixed farming enterprise at Meandarra, is studying a Bachelor of Business Management / Communications at the University of Queensland and said she was surprised to receive the scholarship.

"I'm not the typical applicant that they would receive because every one of the past recipients was studying agribusiness or vet or something along those lines," she said.

"Even in my interview, they were like 'oh, how do you even connect to the agriculture industry'.

"I've grown up on a property - I live near Meandarra on a 55,000 acre property - and it was really interesting to have that conversation and they were a little bit surprised with how I connect."

Torn between her scientific and creative sides, Miss Coggan studied an unusual combination of subjects at high school - chemistry, visual art and extension mathematics - and often applied her creative problem-solving skills to managing livestock, feedlot and multiple farming operations.

"Through high school, I found that I loved creative problem solving, so taking on a problem and then looking at it from a different perspective," Miss Coggan said.

"I think with the ag industry, there's a lot of misinformation or people that aren't in the industry don't understand it."

Despite not knowing exactly what she'd like to do once she finishes university, Miss Coggan said she'd like to use her creativity and problem-solving skills to develop innovative solutions for the agricultural industry, and use her communication skills to shine a positive light on Australian agriculture and change people's perceptions.

Coronavirus has meant her first year of university hasn't panned out the way she envisioned, but Miss Coggan said it has been nice to be home again.

"Seeing it as a learning environment is a strange thing; there's a lot more distractions," she said.

"I keep forgetting that I have a 10am tutorial that I've got to go back for.

"The past week, we've been working in the sheep yards and every morning you go out to do sheep work and then it's 'oh no, I've got to get back to uni'.

"Mum was very excited to have three kids all finally at university and we're all at home now."

Miss Coggan said her favourite part of life within agriculture was that every day there's something different.

"[It] sounds a little bit generic, but when you're working with livestock they're so unpredictable, and yet you can learn ways to work with them.

"And then doing hours in the tractor, you can sit there and have an appreciation for everything that goes on."

This appreciation and passion for rural communities is shared by Kate McCullough, who hails from a grazing property at Seventy Mile in north Queensland.

She is studying a Bachelor of Engineering / Bachelor of Science, majoring in mechanical, at the University of Southern Queensland.

"I'm not entirely sure where I want to go yet, but I hope to bring what I learn in that course back out to rural areas somehow," Miss McCullough said.

"And maybe even looking at doing some STEM work with students, like teaching and something similar to that.

"When I was going through school, the availability of teachers was pretty poor to be honest.

"It wasn't my school's fault, it was just nobody wanted to come out to rural areas and I think that's kind of sad."

Miss McCullough said one of her teachers was the reason she had decided to go to university, and she hoped she could do that for someone else.

Despite also being forced to study from home due to COVID-19, Miss McCullough said she loved being back home, where there's no rules and you can have a lot more freedom.

"It gives your imagination a chance to take off," she said.

"When you're out here, you have to be on the ball so to speak, but there's also a lot of time that you can spend pondering things and thinking about things and I really like that."

Rural Bank's annual scholarship program provides regional and rural students with financial support to help them thrive in their chosen field of study, at institutions across Australia.

Rural Bank CEO Alexandra Gartmann said supporting the next generation of leaders was an ongoing commitment the bank was proud to continue.

"Rural Bank's ability to support young regional and rural Australians is more important now than it has ever been," Ms Gartmann said.

"The prolonged drought and devastating summer bushfires reinforce why this program is so vital. These scholarships are an important step towards easing the financial strain many families feel.

"These students are furthering their education in such a challenging environment, with many of them tasked with continuing their studies online due to the global pandemic and movement restrictions.

"I am constantly amazed by the talent of our scholarship recipients, and their determination to pursue tertiary education. I look forward to seeing how they will invest their capabilities to grow our agricultural sector."

Scholarship recipients will receive financial support to contribute to the costs of accommodation, travel, course materials, study equipment and tutoring. Subject to academic performance, the scholarship funding may be extended to support their second year of study.