The Keith Laugesen Scholarship provides financial support to school leavers of Māori and Pacific Peoples descent who wish to further their education in the community health and wellbeing sector.
This is the inaugural year of the scholarship, and it is exclusively available to students from Hornby High School.
Click here to download and complete the application form.
Click here to view and download the Terms of Reference.
Once your application has been received, your nominated referee will be emailed a short form to be completed and returned to our team at Presbyterian Support Upper South Island.
Keith Laugesen was a second-generation descendant from a hard-working family who migrated to New Zealand from Denmark in 1873.
Keith was born in Cheviot in 1905 where his father was a successful hardware and timber merchant, owning the Laugesen General Store. Here Keith witnessed the poverty that was part of many lives in the settlement. The family moved to Christchurch to enable Keith to attend high school at Christchurch Technical School.
Keith’s determination to do better for himself saw him leave the family in 1926 to work as a farm hand in Parnassus, then as a coach driver for NZ Railways services, based in Kirwee.
Keith was a member of the Christchurch Rotary Club and he and his wife Ena were faithful members of St Ninians Presbyterian Church, both quietly making generous contributions to many Canterbury educational, religious, and social charities.