Wilmar Awards Two $10,000 Scholarships

Two James Cook University engineering students have won $10,000 scholarships with Wilmar Sugar and Renewables.
Bridgette Layman and Brent Barnett were awarded the Undergraduate Engineering Scholarship at the company’s Townsville headquarters this week. As well as receiving $10,000 in direct financial support, Bridgette and Brent will do paid work placements with the company.
Both students are in the third year of their studies at JCU’s Townsville campus, and are on track to complete their degrees next year.
Bridgette, 22, hails from Cairns and is studying chemical engineering. Brent, 21, is from the Burdekin and is studying electrical engineering.
General Manager Engineering Istvan Torok said he was thrilled to present the scholarships to such worthy recipients.
“This is only the second year we’ve offered this scholarship, and we received a lot of interest and some strong applications.
“It was a competitive process and Brent and Bridgette did well to come out as the two winners.”
General Manager Production and Technology Jay Venning said he looked forward to welcoming Bridgette and Brent to the business for vacation placement in November.
“JCU has always been an important source of engineering talent for our business, and this scholarship provides another pathway for attracting the best and brightest students into sugar and renewables.
“The $10,000 scholarship takes the financial pressure off students in their final year so they can focus on their thesis. It also gives them access to real-world engineering experience in one of Queensland’s most important industries.”
Brent said he was honoured to receive the scholarship, saying it represented both financial support and a career pathway.
“This is absolutely huge. I do work part-time, but this scholarship will take a lot of pressure off me financially,” he said.
“I’ve already done some vacation placement with Wilmar and really enjoyed the work, the team and the mentoring. I’m looking forward to doing another placement next month and spending some more time in the mills.”
Bridgette said she was excited about the opportunity of working in the sugar industry because it provided such a challenging workplace for chemical engineers.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what goes on in the factories because every type of processing unit operation is used in sugar production. You get to take what you’ve learnt in class and apply it.”

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