Hillary Scholar programme welcomes first surfer

Media Release
March 11, 2010

Hillary Scholar programme welcomes its first competitive surfer

Alexis Poulter of Raglan is looking to add a law degree to her impressive surfing achievements, and to do so she’s become the first competitive surfer ever to win a prestigious Hillary Scholarship at the University of Waikato.

Poulter has been winning surfing competitions since she was 13 and last year won the women’s U18 national competition. She’s one of about 50 new scholars on the Sir Edmund Hillary Scholarship Programme, which awards scholarships to academic high achievers who show significant leadership qualities and also excel in sport or in the creative and performing arts.

Poulter found out about the scholarships from a teacher at Raglan Area School, where she studied at the Surf Academy. Waikato seemed the obvious choice as she can continue to live in Raglan and commute to classes.

The Hillary Scholarships provide full university course fees while studying at Waikato, comprehensive support for the recipients’ academic, sporting and/or arts activities, and additional support in leadership and personal development.

Under the Hillary programme, Poulter will work with Larry Fisher, former New Zealand team member, now New Zealand Junior Team Coach and also Raglan Surfing Academy coach.

“I’m pretty stoked to get all my fees paid,” says Poulter, who’ll be taking five papers in her first semester as well as putting in time for gym training each week in preparation for the international Grom Search finals being held in Australia in April. There she’ll be pitted against the best up-and-coming young surfers from eight countries.

Poulter says she’s lucky because the main surf competition season runs from November to February, during the uni summer break. And during the year, most competitions are at weekends, so she’ll have plenty of time for studying. She aims to complete her LLB in four years.

“I really want to go into sports law,” she says. “And I want to go as far as I can with surfing. My aim is to make the Worlds team for the Open in October – they only take two girls from the whole of New Zealand.”

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