2023 Commencement Weekend

Last week the Tuckwell Scholarship community welcomed its newest members to ANU during a weekend of events. This is the biggest event of the year on the Tuckwell social calendar, and founders Dr Graham Tuckwell AO and Dr Louise Tuckwell AO were joined by Professor Brian Schmidt Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Grady Venville, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), as well as Associate Professor Ryan Goss, Head of Scholars House and Dr Fiona Scotney, Director, Tuckwell Scholarship Program, along with current Scholars, incoming Scholar’s Parents and Alumni.

The weekend began with a lunch in Kambri for our newest Scholars and their families. Graham and Louise warmly welcomed the 2023 cohort and spent time speaking with them about their hopes for the year and their experiences so far. Later that evening, the parents were then invited to a dinner with the Head of Scholars House, and two ANU residential heads, to get to know each other and the University better.

Concurrently, Scholars and Alumni attended the Commencement Dinner at Manning Clark Hall. Scholars were represented by 2022 Bell Ringer, Kate Chipman, who delivered the keynote speech. Kate had the honour of ringing in the newest cohort using the Tuckwell Bell.  During the dinner, Alumni were also presented with their Tuckwell pins by Louise. This was a particularly notable event in the Tuckwell calendar as it is the first year that the amount of alumni for the program outnumber the amount of scholars. Louise also awarded the annual Bell magazine prize, for best article. This year the winner was Nic Mayrhofer for his ironically titled piece, “How to win the Bell prize (A reflection)”.

Throughout their time at ANU and beyond their studies as Tuckwell Alumni, Scholars have the opportunity to fulfil their potential and make a positive contribution to the University, their local community and to Australia. As the program grows, events such as Commencement give us the chance to stop and reflect on the positive impact that the Scholarship has had so far and how the Tuckwell community continues to grow.