Girdlers’ Scholar for 2008

Media Release 5 March 2008 Girdlers’ Scholar for 2008

Former Columba College deputy head girl Emma Hutton, currently studying first-year music at the University of Otago, has been selected as the Girdlers’ Scholar for 2008, a prestigious award regarded as the undergraduate equivalent of the Rhodes Scholarship which will see her attend Cambridge University.

Emma has an outstanding academic and music record to date, gaining a New Zealand Scholarship in history and music studies last year. This followed a joint top place in New Zealand for the 2006 Cambridge International AS level English language and literature. The recipient of a number of Columba College music and academic scholarships, she won two awards at the 2007 Otago Regional Chamber Music Competition and was a finalist in the national chamber music competition. Further success came in the Otago Institute of Registered Music Teachers composition competition in the form of first place.

Other activities in which Emma has excelled include public speaking, drama and dance and her singing/acting experience extends to both opera and television. Along with her family, she featured in Colonial Home, a re-enactment of early settlers arriving in Canterbury from the United Kingdom.

Born in Pukekohe, Emma is from a four-child family who now live in Milton where her father Ross serves as a police officer. Her interest in attending Cambridge is based not only on gaining an unrivalled academic qualification but also extending herself in the wide range of extra-curricular activities she has already pursued. When Emma returns from her Cambridge studies, she hopes to become a musicologist, conductor and performer as well as sharing her knowledge with others through teaching and performance.

The Girdlers’ Scholarship – worth more than 18,000 pounds sterling - is administered by the NZ Vice-Chancellors’ Committee and funded by the Girdlers’ Company, a British organization with its origins in livery but which now focuses on charitable causes and property ownership. Emma is the 44th Girdlers’ Scholar, a fact which underlines the lengthy connection between the company and this country.

ENDS

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