News

Stars Win Big!

Stars students have been awarded all four of the 2018 Mulumulung International Scholarships and will travel to the United Kingdom this January to visit some of the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.

The scholarships are offered through The Streets Movement Organisation and their corporate partner, Grant Thornton, and aim to provide educational opportunities, pathways and inspiration to high-performing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, particularly those in rural and remote areas.

Our Stars Mentors worked closely with these four amazing young winners – Ebony Pearson, Victoria Blundell and Taylor Naumann from Townsville and Anna Wommatakimmi-Chapman from Darwin – encouraging them to apply and supporting them to develop their successful applications.

The young women will travel to the United Kingdom to visit Cambridge and Oxford Universities, where they will meet with academic staff, current scholars and graduates, as well as undertaking cultural exchanges and some sightseeing!

On their return to Australia, they will have the opportunity either to engage further with international institutions or link into excellent higher education institutions closer to home.

Our Successful Stars

Taylor Naumann

” My hopes for my future are to go to university to study an area around medicine, maybe nursing or midwifery. My goal is to join the Royal Flying Doctor Service as I will be able to go out to the rural communities and do as much as I can to improve their health.

The Mulumulung Scholarship will help me discover all the different pathways that can help me to reach my goals. I have never travelled overseas before. I mean, moving from Mount Isa to Townsville was a big thing for me, now England! I can’t wait.

My Stars Mentors helped me be part of this trip because they gave me the support I needed to complete my application. I would not be able to go on this trip without their support … and I owe them everything.

My family are ecstatic and so proud with what I have been able to achieve. My father has always been the brightest and best role model for me and I am so happy to be able to show him that with his support I can do anything I put my mind to.

I hope to bring back stories of what I was able to achieve over there and show what opportunities are open not only to me, but to my family and community. I can also strive to show the younger kids in my community that you can do things, but you need to put your mind to it.”

Victoria Blundell

“My vision for my future includes attending university, preferably UQ in Brisbane, to study law in the hope to one day become a representative for Indigenous people in Australia. Looking deep into my future, I hope to be in Parliament, changing Australia for the better.

I think the Mulumulung Scholarship will help me gain more understanding of the world around me and I hope to use this knowledge in my work later in life. Being accepted into this program has shown me how the dreams for my future don’t have to be just dreams. It’s helped adjust my awareness of myself … that I can do the things I want to, if I work hard and believe in myself.

My family is overwhelmed with pride. They have always believed in me and my efforts. My Mum and Stepdad took me out for dinner to celebrate and my Dad and I screamed with joy over the phone! My Nan was speechless and my Abuela and Abuelo were so proud!

I hope to bring back a new knowledge of the world that will help me encourage a change in Australia. It may inspire me to work harder to achieve more experiences such as this, and I may even strive to study at a prestigious university. The Mulumulung Scholarship has opened new pathways that I can’t wait to explore!”

Ebony Pearson

“I hope to go to university to study a Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science and continue on to do a Masters, so that I can go into a career in cancer research and diagnostic pathology.

The Mulumulung Scholarship will help me better achieve these goals by allowing me to get out some of my desire to travel, while keeping me motivated to study. This brilliant opportunity will help me academically and mentally beyond compare.

My family are immensely proud of my accomplishment and have been there with me celebrating and spoiling me – and for that I feel so lucky and blessed.

From this amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity I hope to bring back new experiences and skills that I can share with the people around me. I also hope to establish some connections with other communities, people and organisations and solidify my decisions about my tertiary education.”

Anna Wommatakimmi-Chapman

“I want to be able to help young people. I have experienced life-changing mentors during the last five years and I want to ensure that young people, specifically young Indigenous kids, have stability, support and love through their formative years and into their adulthood. This is important to me as I have seen the collapse of great support groups and as a result people close to me have lost their way.

Following my graduation from school, I am going to study a Diploma in Public Health at Charles Darwin University, and then I hope to study a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Anthropology and Sociology. These two areas of study will provide me with the knowledge about health and human interaction and the social structures that dictate our society.

This scholarship will help me refine my ideas and goals for the future. It shows me that I am not limited to my town, or even my country, in my academic aspirations. I think it will be highly beneficial, not just for my own clarity of mind, but also to show other young Indigenous kids that they are limitless.”