Two of the region's talented young locals have been awarded a 2021 Northparkes Mine Indigenous scholarship.
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Kira-Lyn Edwards-Barry from Narromine and Nicayden Greenwood from Parkes were recipients of the scholarship, which is part of Northparkes' commitment with their Wiradjuri Executive Committee.
Ms Edwards-Barry was school captain and heavily involved in NAIDOC activities in the community. She has recently moved to Lismore to study a Bachelor of Teaching.
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Mr Greenwood, was Parkes' Young Australian of the Year in 2020 and has been accepted into Bond University on the Gold Coast to study a Bachelor of Design in Architecture.
The two recipients will receive $5000 each year during their degree as part of their non-technical scholarship.
In addition, they will also be given a laptop to assist them with their tertiary studies, and will complete work placements on site at Northparkes and throughout Australia.
Ms Edwards-Barry said she was "overwhelmed" to receive the scholarship, and said it was special to be recognised and rewarded for something she's passionate about.
"I felt very lucky and special that someone had taken interest in me and my story enough to help financially through my tertiary education," she said.
"The scholarship will help significantly with accommodation while studying and other general needs such as stationary, everyday items like groceries and text books."
Ms Edwards-Barry said she was also looking forward to the placement with Northparkes which she said would help ensure she was getting practical experience throughout their degree.
"I am looking forward to placement with Northparkes just so that I get a taste of a real world workplace environment that could potentially help and prepare me for whats to come in my future," she said.
These scholarships are a result of the signed relationship agreement with Northparkes' Wiradjuri Executive Committee (WEC), which aims to build sustainable Indigenous communities.
The WEC meet quarterly to identify opportunities and develop projects which support Wiradjuri people in the region.
Northparkes managing director, Hubert Lehman said the scholarship program was vital to Northparkes, both to help Indigenous people further their studies and also to continue developing the Northparkes employee pipeline.
"Congratulations Nicayden and Kira-Lyn - we are proud to welcome you both to our employee pipeline and we wish you all the best in your studies," he said.
"We will see you onsite soon to get to know you even better."