for
rural students
He spent the next 11 years at the College until 1953, when he studied Agriculture and attained School Certificate. George was a talented academic and sportsman, winning the class prize for Excellence in English, Agriculture, Physics, Social Studies, Biology, and Mathematics, and playing rugby, athletics and basketball at the College. After his School Certificate year he returned to work for his father. “I was the top Agriculture student and always wanted to be a veterinary surgeon but it wasn’t meant to be due to family circumstances. I had to go home and work on the farm.”
first time, has a scholar at all year levels in the Secondary School.
George wanted to share the opportunities he was given at St Andrew’s as a young farming lad with others, which is how he and Merrilyn first talked about the idea for the scholarship back in the 1980s. The George Feilding Hight Scholarship has now been running for five years, and this year, for the
“I’ve also taken up trapshooting, which is something I’d never heard of before I came to St Andrew’s. The list of co-curricular options here is immense,” says George Gray, now in his final year at the College. His grandfather Chris Sheppard (OC 1960) also attended St Andrew’s.
The five students in this special group are George Gray (Year 13), Benjamin MacLeod (Year 12), Isla Lewis (Year 11), Graeme Campbell (Year 10) and Grace Richan (Year 9), who say they are incredibly grateful for the opportunity and are embracing life at St Andrew’s. George, Benjamin and Graeme are from Mid Canterbury farming backgrounds, and board at the College. They all play rugby, with George and Benjamin also pipers in the Pipe Band.
Isla comes from a small horticultural property in the Heathcote Valley and has discovered several new-found passions at St Andrew’s, particularly in the areas of productions, drama and singing. She had the lead role in the Middle School production of Lucky Duck last year, and will be performing in Blood Brothers this year. Grace, the newest scholar, is also from Mid Canterbury and is a boarder at St Andrew’s. Her parents run a business which services the rural sector. She also has a passion for drama, which she is keen to explore during her time at the College. The students provide a written report to George twice a year to update him on their progress. “It is certainly a thrill to see how they are doing,” he says.
George Hight, at a special morning tea with the five deserving recipients of the George Feilding Hight Scholarship, (back) Grace Richan (Year 9), Benjamin MacLeod (Year 12) and Isla Lewis (Year 11), (front) Graeme Campbell (Year 10) and George Gray (Year 13).
George has shared books from his personal library with the students, including some of his late wife Merrilyn’s cookbooks. Isla found a payslip tucked away inside one cookbook with a Christmas cake recipe written on the back in Merrilyn’s handwriting. When George returned home from a stint in hospital just before Christmas last year, he found a Christmas cake waiting for him.
Resources and Environment
In 2013, the Hights, with the help of former Board Chair, Garry Moore, established the George Feilding Hight Scholarship in the St Andrew’s College Foundation to fully fund the education of a young man or woman from a rural community starting in Year 9 each year. To qualify, the student’s family income must be primarily derived from the agricultural sector, and they must demonstrate an interest in, and aptitude for, academic studies. “When we set up the scholarship it was our hope the students would grasp this opportunity, do the best they can, and become complete citizens at the end of it. It is a special feeling to see the vision come to reality,” says George, who grew up on a farm in Hororata and attended St Andrew’s as a boarder in 1943 as a five year old, when his mother became ill.
Helping hand
31 Regulus
The incredible generosity of Old Collegian, George Hight (OC 1955) and his late wife Merrilyn was honoured at a special annual morning tea, held in Rector Christine Leighton’s study in early March.