Maxine Shanks has scholarships galore.
The Queen's High School co-dux has won one of eight Arrow International Leadership Scholarships worth $2500, a University of Otago $5000 Leadership Award, and has been offered $5000 dux scholarships to study at the University of Otago or the University of Canterbury.
During the past two years, she has achieved NCEA Levels 1 and 2 with excellence endorsements and received school prizes for physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, English and French.
Maxine's haul is not surprising. She comes from a very competitive family, and believes her determination will see her become just as successful in academic circles as her big sister, former world champion cyclist and Otago Rebels netballer Alison Shanks, is in sporting circles.
Having so much funding to put towards an education would leave many wondering what to do with it, but Maxine says it will help her on the way to studying neuroscience as part of a bachelor of science degree at the University of Otago next year.
"I feel very honoured to win the Arrow scholarship. It's one of only two awarded to students in the South Island.
"This has made it that much easier to realise my ambitions.
"It will greatly assist my student loan - it will be so much smaller."
Queen's High School's other co-dux, Jule Barth, won a $10,000 Young Achiever's Scholarship from the University of Victoria as well as a $2500 academic scholarship from the University of Auckland.
