Intrepid Travel Scholars from The Sixth Form College Farnborough will this year travel to destinations which include Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Mexico.

The Travel Scholarships are discretionary awards, made by the College to support independent travel abroad and encourage students to take on new challenges and develop personal and social skills through participation in overseas volunteering projects.

Students received their awards on Friday 24 April and were joined by Tricia Nutt, past President of the Rotary Club of Ash and Blackwater Valley. Tricia presented the Jacqueline Findlay Bursary to two of the Scholars, Danielle Toudup, who will be volunteering in a Medical Clinic in Tanzania and Bethany O’Sullivan, who will spend three months in Zimbabwe working in elephant conservation and setting up a museum on a wildlife reserve.

Jacqueline Findlay was the founding President, of the then Rotary Club of Blackwater Valley. She was a local head teacher and a very dynamic personality who passed away 12 years ago, after fighting cancer. She had travelled extensively as a younger person and believed that travel was an education in itself. The club decided to set up the award to remember her and hopefully to continue her work.

Tricia Nutt, from the Ash and Blackwater Rotary Club, explained that Bethany and Danielle had been chosen to receive the Bursary, “because both students intended to travel and be away from home for extended periods of time, to do something really worthwhile. The essence of the Jacqueline Findlay Award has been to encourage a sense of independence and self-sufficiency, that travelling in a totally new and unfamiliar environment will hopefully develop.”

The Travel Scholars 2015 are Peter Bolton, Antony Grahamslaw, Bethany O’Sullivan, Clarissa Rogers, Robyn Salt, Oliver Thomas, and Danielle Toudup.

Antony, Peter and Clarissa travelled to Tijuana in Mexico, over the Easter vacation and were involved in building a house for homeless people in the region. Peter commented, “What we took away from the experience was immeasurable”.

Simon Jarvis, College Principal said, “It's so impressive that so many of our students are going to do things for others – to volunteer to work with others much less fortunate than ourselves. To work in communities and be immersed in different cultures, is an incredibly valuable education in itself, turning Farnborough students into citizens of the world.”