Cain Kerehoma is 2006 winner of Haggie Scholarship

Cain Kerehoma is 2006 winner of Kamira Henry (Binga) Haggie Scholarship

A 23-year-old Waikato University Law School student has won a $5,000 scholarship for his dedication to his academic career and his contributions to the Law School’s Māori community.

Cain Kerehoma is this year’s recipient of the Kamira Henry (Binga) Haggie Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded annually to the most deserving, all-round Māori student studying at the masters level in the Law School. Kerehoma, who is originally from Levin, belongs to Ngāti Raukawa.

“Cain’s contribution to Māori students in the School of Law is just phenomenal,” said the Law School’s Māori Liaison Coordinator, Moe Edmonds, who supervised Kerehoma in his work as a mentor to fellow Māori law students. “I always called on him if I ever needed help. He got along exceptionally well with his students and was always in demand.”

Kerehoma also is an intellectually gifted student, said Craig Coxhead, a Law School Senior Lecturer who supervised Kerehoma’s honours work.

“I was really impressed with Cain,” Coxhead said. “He had an excellent ability to critique and examine, and then put his own thoughts into it.”

The Kamira Henry (Binga) Haggie Scholarship was established in 1999 to recognise Binga’s (as he was commonly known) role as the Law School’s foundation kaumatua. He served in that role from 1991 to 1996, when he retired. He died in 1997. His wife, Noki Haggie, is the kuia for the Law School and serves on the panel that selects the scholarship winner.

“The Waikato Law School has a strong relationship with Tainui and all the Māori people,” said Law School Dean Prof John Farrar. “It is based on a sense of community and aims at training Māori for leadership roles. Binga Haggie in his modest way performed such a role and was an important figure in the early history of the Law School.”

Kerehoma came to the University of Waikato in 2001. He earned a bachelors degree in law and Māori before going onto his masters study in law. For the last three years, he worked as a Māori Law Mentor, helping his fellow students navigate the personal and academic challenges of their law school papers.

“It was really rewarding to be a mentor,” Kerehoma said. “I took on the job as a way of repaying those who had done that for me. I feel really privileged to have been given the opportunity to do that work.”

Prof Farrar and Noki Haggie presented Kerehoma with his scholarship at a ceremony last month. Kerehoma said he was humbled to receive the Kamira Henry (Binga) Haggie Scholarship.

“I am honoured and privileged to be associated with it,” he said.

Kerehoma moved to Wellington in August to take a job with the Ministry of Education. He has two papers left to complete his Masters in Law degree.

ENDS

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