EIT Student Wins Scholarship At Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards

EIT student Anna Kelland, who is in her final year of the concurrent Bachelor of Viticulture and Wine Science degrees, has been awarded a prestigious scholarship at the Napier Port Hawke’s Bay Primary Sector Awards 2022.

Anna received the Lawson Robinson Hawke's Bay A&P Society Scholarship at a gala dinner at the Tomoana Showgrounds, Hawke’s Bay in Hastings this evening (Thursday 30/06/2022). The scholarship, sponsored by local Barristers and Solicitors Lawson Robinson, aims to recognise outstanding academic and leadership qualities in a student currently enrolled in a full-time land-based production industries programme at a New Zealand tertiary institute.

Anna, who was a winner of an EIT Year 13 Scholarship for her first year and a Bragato Trust Study Grant last year, says she is very grateful to receive this latest scholarship, which will help her with the costs of her studies.

“Thanks to Lawson Robinson for this scholarship and I am honoured to be considered to be in the same standard as past recipients.”

Sue Blackmore, EIT’s Head of the School of Viticulture and Wine Science, says Anna is a “very worthy winner” of the scholarship.

“Anna is a very good student who will go very far in the industry. EIT congratulates her on this achievement.”

At 20, Anna is young to be completing her four-year degree, but this is because she left school in Year 12.

“I went to Taradale High School from 2015 to 2018 and I graduated a year early as Dux of the School. I had decided in Year 10 what I wanted to do so it was a no-brainer to come to EIT to do the double degree.”

“However, when I started I was still only 17 and couldn’t actually drink wine in the wine-making course. Fortunately, we didn't have any sensory courses in the first semester, so I was still able to do all of the courses. It was just a bit more hypothetical for me in the first six months.”

Her interest in horticulture started much earlier and was encouraged by her grandfather who was a keen gardener. She also grew up in Taradale so remembers walking past the wineries there on the way to school.

Anna, who describes herself as “an academic at heart” is not content to be only studying through EIT but has also enrolled in Wine and Spirits Education Trust London, to get her diploma. It is a two-year-programme she is doing through the New Zealand School of Wine and Spirits.

“It's a pretty challenging qualification, especially on top of my undergraduate study, but it's been fantastic to learn about viticulture beyond our little corner of the world! It certainly puts a lot of what I've learnt at EIT into a global perspective that will help me approach future work in the field with a broader mindset.”

Anna says when she started on her wine and viticulture journey, she was convinced she wanted to be a winemaker because she had an interest in chemistry. However, she decided to do the concurrent viticulture and winemaking degrees in order to keep her options open. This proved to be a wise move as Anna feels herself being drawn to the viticulture side of the industry.

“I was lucky to get a scholarship from Constellation Brands a couple of years ago, so I have been doing field work with them in Maraekakaho for the last couple of summers. That is what really diverted me from wanting to be a winemaker into going into the vineyard.”

As for the future, Anna is keen to explore the world of wine and further her education overseas, possibly doing a masters degree in France, the United States or even Switzerland.

She is also keen to get some local experience as well, either in Hawke’s Bay or doing a vintage in Marlborough.

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