Shellharbour City Council this week awarded scholarships worth a total of $25,000 to three high-performing University of Wollongong (UOW) students.

The $5000 Shellharbour City Council Community Scholarship recipient was Caitlin Vickers, while two $10,000 Shellharbour City Council Integrated Learning Scholarships went to Hannah Schymitzek and Tea Rundback, respectively.

Shellharbour City Council Community Scholarship

This scholarship recognises and rewards contributions to the local community. Applicants must have resided in Shellharbour City for the past five years and demonstrated a significant initiative that has benefitted the city. Caitlin is a UOW Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies student and is currently undertaking a Business Management Cadetship. She has demonstrated strong community involvement through her passions of education and gender equality in the area.

Shellharbour City Council Integrated Learning Scholarships

The recipients, Hannah Schymitzek and Tea Rundback, will undertake specific Council projects while they are studying.

Hannah Schymitzek’s Best Team Practice Project sits within Council’s Organisational Performance area. She will undertake a review of how Council’s operational work teams currently function, with recommendations on how to develop high performing teams.

Tea Rundback’s Best Practice Performance Management Project is part of the Human Resources area. She will develop a Performance Management Toolkit for managers and supervisors. The toolkit will set out a performance management process from start to finish, with supporting resources that reflect Council’s core values and core behaviours.

Shellharbour Mayor Marianne Saliba said she was delighted that Council was able to ease the financial burden faced by students.

“As we know, university study can be extremely costly. I was so pleased to present these scholarships to such deserving recipients. They are extremely accomplished young women and I am so proud that our region is producing such talented young people,” Cr Saliba said.

“I sincerely thank the UOW for its collaboration with Council and look forward to our continued partnerships,” she said.

Mayor Saliba was particularly thrilled to award the Shellharbour City Council Community Scholarship and said the recipient, Caitlin Vickers, demonstrated maturity and vision beyond her years.

“This is the first time Council has awarded this particular scholarship. Caitlin’s contribution to her community is remarkable. She is a wonderful example not only to our city’s young people, but to everyone in the community,” Cr Saliba said.

Caitlin was born in Shellharbour hospital and went to Lake Illawarra High School. She has undertaken significant volunteer work as a mentor with Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME). In this role, she travels to high schools in the region to tutor Indigenous students in subjects in which they are experiencing difficulties. Through this work, she supports discussions around respect, confidence, integrity and embracing of one’s culture.

Caitlin also volunteers with the Shero Program, part of the charity group Share the Dignity, which support homeless women and victims of domestic violence. In this role, she advocates through communication channels to encourage others to get involved as well as collecting donations, organising pickup points and distributing supplies.

Locally, Caitlin has been responsible for collecting and packing donations from Bunnings Shellharbour. She said wanted to use the scholarship to springboard her passion of developing her social awareness project within Shellharbour City.

Recipients’ contacts details

Tea Rundback

HR – WIL Scholarship - Best Practice Performance Management

Ph: 0499 889 051

Email: tjr789@uowmail.edu.au

Hannah Schymitzek

Org Performance – WIL Scholarship - Best Team Practice Scholarship

Ph: 0424 789 754

Email: hs941@uowmail.com.au

Caitlin Vickers

Community Scholarship

Ph: 0404 133 877

Email: cv423@uowmail.edu.au

Shellharbour City Council media queries: Kelli Wells 0448 361 008.