£3000 RWAS Scholarship for North Wales student
A Royal Welsh Agricultural Society scholarship aimed at encouraging students of merit to develop their potential through academic achievement thereby enabling them to make a more effective contribution to the farming industry has been awarded to a farmer’s son from Llanrwst in North Wales.
The scholarships, which are supported by Waitrose, are intended to assist financially students who have qualified through a Higher National Diploma or Foundation Degree, to take a degree or equivalent higher education course in land based studies at any university college in England, Scotland or Wales.
The scholarship fund of £3000 is awarded annually by competitive selection and distributed at the discretion of the judges and to qualify a candidate’s family normally would have lived in Wales for not less than five years.
This year’s sole winner is Emyr Wyn Owen of Bodrach Farm, Carmel, Llanrwst, Conwy, one of six applicants planning to progress to a degree course. He is the second son on a mixed beef and sheep farm situated between 800 and 1000 feet above the Conwy Valley which has been a sound base for him to develop his keen interest in agriculture from a young age. After leaving the local school he pursued a National Diploma in Agriculture course at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor, Glynllifon, and for the last two years studied for a higher National Diploma at IBERS Aberystwyth. He now plans to return to Aberystwyth to follow a BSc degree course in agriculture.
In addition to the cash award the sponsors offer winning students the opportunity of developing further contact and work experience through the Waitrose supply chain network.
In their report the judges said they were impressed with the very high calibre of the six students who were interviewed and that they faced a challenging task in selecting the winner. They wished to emphasise, they said, that the unsuccessful candidates should not feel they had failed. They all demonstrated high potential and confidence in the future and the judges believed other doors will soon open for them.
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