Karleigh is the first student from Levin to be awarded a First
Foundation scholarship. This young woman of outstanding calibre has
an impressive intellect which is matched with a drive to succeed.
Described as "a resilient young woman of high personal integrity,"
her Principal wrote that "her participation in the Horowhenua
District Youth Council and also the National Youth Diversity Forum
are testament to both her leadership potential and public
spirit."
At school Karleigh's activities were extensive and included
being a Stage Challenge Team Leader 2011, a member of the
Polynesian Culture group and the Senior A Netball and Soccer
teams, as well as being a Junior and Senior house leader. She was
involved in the Student Council and tutoring. In 2009 she was
honoured with the Principal's Award for Academic Excellence and in
2010 she passed NCEA Level 1 with an Excellence endorsement and was
Yr 11 Dux
From a large family, Karleigh, in her First Foundation
application expressed the desire to be a role model for her younger
siblings in pursuing higher education and working hard. In 2012 she
completed the pre-requisite year in Health Science and was accepted
for a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Otago University which she
completed at the end of 2015, having won a
Brain Health Research Centre Scholarship for Maori Students in
2014.
In February 2015 she embarked on a 10 week research project in
preparation for her honours - studying Default brain networks in
patients suffering psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, using
EEG.
Karleigh is currently continuing with her studies at Otago
University.