To celebrate the successes of the first cohort of the Gold Scholars, we marked the occasion with a dinner for our scholars, donors and alumni mentors on Friday 27 April 2018.
Gold Scholarships offer more than financial support; they provide students with opportunities for personal development through volunteering and mentoring. This event gave scholars a chance to practise the networking skills they have been developing over their first year.
Among the speakers on the night, we heard from alumna and long-term donor Sharon Flood:
“What’s wonderful [about Gold Scholarships] is that it brings together the very best of Bath. You have alumni who are mentors, alumni who are donors, staff who support the programme through their work, staff who are donors, and of course, the students.”
Sharon and her husband, alumnus Jon Lee, generously support Computer Science student Hannah Khan through a Gold Scholarship. Hannah recently spoke to the BBC about her experience as a student with autism.
“We’re very proud of Hannah for talking about some of the challenges she’s faced. She’s a real credit to the programme and the University.”
The evening concluded with Professor Bernie Morley, then-Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost at the University, in conversation with PhD student Dom Parsons, winner of the Men’s Skeleton bronze medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Dom knows first-hand the impact donors have made, as he was supported by a Santander scholarship during his undergraduate degree at Bath. He said: “Winning an Olympic medal was a dream I’d been working towards for over ten years.
“Every bit of support I received in that time was crucial, and the Santander Scholarship funded the development of essential equipment that helped my performance at the Games.”
See more photos from the Gold Scholarship Celebration Dinner.