Harper Adams Club scholarships

Posted 18 February 2016

A group of students have received scholarships funded by alumni of their university. 

Six Harper Adams University students are this year benefitting from the generosity of the The Harper Adams Club alumni association. 

Sam Green has been awarded the HA Club Final Year Scholarship. He said: “Being awarded a scholarship is such a fantastic feeling. It makes all the hard work I have put in throughout Harper Adams and on placement worthwhile. It’s nice to know that you’re on the right track and that there are people out there that are willing to help you on your way.

Sam, 21, from Preston, Lancashire spent his placement year in France, with machinery manufacturer Kuhn, and hopes to graduate this summer with a first-class honours degree in Agri-food with Marketing and Business Studies

Joseph Allin, from Bideford, Devon, secured the HA Club Postgraduate Scholarship. Joe is about to complete his MEng Agricultural Engineering degree. He said: “I feel humbled to have received this award and relieved that I will not have to worry quite as much about finding extra work during the year to support my studies.  I am very grateful to Mr Simon Jones and Mrs Ros Barsley for the interview experience and for awarding me the scholarship.

“As the scholarship was mainly assessed on academic record and enthusiasm for the field of study, I applied as being successful would allow me to focus on my studies during my final year. It would also allow me to represent the University at various shows during the coming year as I would have the time available.”

Joe, 22, spent his placement year with Niftylift, a MEWP manufacturer based in Milton Keynes.  “I spent the first three months completing a rotation around the company, gaining experience in purchasing, quality, service and manufacturing. I then worked within the control systems department, redesigning the human machine interface and machine software. 

“Niftylift have offered me a graduate job once I complete my final year,” he added. “I am aiming to become a chartered engineer, specialising in the mechatronic control systems of mobile machines.” 

Thomas Wareham, 24, from Wimborne, Dorset, and Beth Hanson, 19, from Dilwyn, Hereford, each received a HA Club President’s Scholarship

Tom, a BSc Agriculture with Farm Business Management top-up student, said: “I completed my foundation degree in Agriculture last year and felt that a top up would help my career. The scholarship was a benefit for a returning student. 

“I feel very privileged as the award was open to top-up students across all subjects. I knew the competition was strong within my course as well as being told this in the interview. I am honoured to have been chosen, knowing the calibre of previous winners.    

“My ambition is to enter the poultry industry as a production manager, using the skills I have learned from the top-up and my foundation degree to hopefully be a successful member of the agricultural sector and to be fully involved in the agricultural community.”

Beth, final year Rural Enterprise and Land Management, said: “I am delighted to have won the award. I am aware the scholarship is highly competitive between all final years at Harper Adams and it is a great honour to receive this prestigious award. 

“I’ve completed a 13-month placement with Roger Parry & Partners working as a trainee rural surveyor at the head office in Minsterley, Shropshire. I was given a vast amount of responsibility and had a thoroughly enjoyable and challenging year.” 

Beth hopes to pursue a career as a rural chartered surveyor through the completion of her APC and CAAV examinations.

And Olivia Muir and Aimee Withinshaw have each received Extended Foundation Degree Programme Scholarships. 

Olivia, 20, from Rushton Spencer, Cheshire, is a first year BSc (Hons) Veterinary Nursing and Practice Management student, having successfully completed the extended foundation year (year 0). She said: “I applied because I thought I was a good example of an EFDP student. I’ve worked really hard, got excellent results and a commendation from the chair of the examination board. And I put in a lot of extra work experience.

“I was shocked to win the scholarship, but absolutely over the moon. It feels good to be recognised for all the hard work I’ve put in.”

When not at university Olivia has a paid placement job at The Vets’ Place, Wilmslow Cheshire. She added: “I work at this practice full time in-between terms at Harper and during the placement time we are given as part of our course. 

“I have been working for The Vets Place since I was 15. I started there on work experience and eventually they created a Saturday job for me, which developed into a job during the school holidays. They became a registered training practice specifically so that I could do my placements with them!”

Aimee Withinshaw, 19, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, is a first year BSc Agriculture with Animal Science student. She said: “I applied to the scholarship as it would give me the opportunity to expand my practical qualifications through the Harper Adams land-based skills programme. My grandfather, who was SU president in 1960 at Harper Adams, was also very encouraging that I should apply for a scholarship.

“To receive it was completely unexpected given the number of applicants that went forward. I feel very privileged.”

Next year Aimee plans to seek a placement in the pig and poultry sector “to learn something new and vary my experiences”. 

Her long term ambition is to work in the animal genetics sector of agriculture, working for an AI company producing and improving genetics.