Young achievers encouraged to apply for 2025 W. H. Groom scholarship

Young Toowoomba Region tertiary students with a passion for community, sporting or cultural pursuits are encouraged to apply for the 2025 W. H. Groom scholarship.

The Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) scholarship winner will receive $5000 in half-yearly payments.

Toowoomba Region Mayor Cr Geoff McDonald said eligible applicants must be between 18 and 24 and in their second or third year of full-time study at TAFE Queensland South West or the University of Southern Queensland.

“The selection requirements cover a student’s first and/or second-year academic achievement and their record of community service in arts, sport or charitable groups,” Mayor McDonald said.

“Applicants must have graduated from a Toowoomba Region high school and need to prove they attended high school in the Region for a minimum of two years.

“Students also need to indicate their willingness to continue full-time study in 2025.

“The scholarship is a wonderful way to acknowledge the academic and civic achievements of a young person who is contributing to their community.

“Apart from the recognition associated with the scholarship, the monetary prize is designed to help with a student’s course costs.”

The prize will be awarded at Council’s Toowoomba Australia Day ceremony in January 2025.

Applications close on Monday, December 2, 2024. Application forms can be downloaded from www.tr.qld.gov.au/groomscholarship

The scholarship was established in 2004 to mark the centenary of Toowoomba’s proclamation as a city and to honour the achievements of Toowoomba’s first mayor, William Henry Groom.

W. H. Groom served a total of seven terms as mayor from 1861 and was elected to represent the municipality in the Queensland Colonial Government.

He was elected to represent the Darling Downs in the first Commonwealth Parliament and was responsible for much of the town’s early development.