SOME people just love their town, and that is certainly the case for Gunnedah's Paige Murray, who was one of the recipients at Tuesday night's Community Scholarship Fund presentation.
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Having been educated at Gunnedah High School, she has no plans of moving on and hopes - in the future - to raise children in the place she calls home.
The 19-year-old is already making an impact on the community, having recently set up a business with her partner which will see them do contract farm work, irrigation work and earth moving.
She also works full time at Hennessy Real Estate, which is why she is undertaking a course to earn a certificate four in Business Administration and Accounting.
Ms Murray believes that will help her in both roles, and said the $500 she has received from the Gunnedah Shire Council's scholarship fund will be extremely useful in paying for the training program.
"It was amazing, even just to hear from another scholarship winner in the past [Gunnedah Veterinary Hospital vet Chelsea Mitchell] and how she put it towards her studies and how in-depth it actually is to do a tertiary course," she said.
"It's great to see how much support the community actually has financially but also just with everyone putting their hands up to make it all come true and make it all happen."
In a statement which will no doubt please council, Ms Murray made clear she cannot see a future anywhere aside from Gunnedah.
"I want to grow a business here in Gunnedah so that everybody in the rural community here can benefit from it," she said.
"I want to eventually settle down and have a family here in the community as it is, I grew up here and would probably want my own kids to grow up here as well but that's a long time away."
The other 2021 recipients were Zachary Bower, Leah Broekman, Edwina Carrigan, Lacey Davis, Paige Gainsford, Tyson Hubbard, Grace Jaeger, Ineke Jones, Holly Miller, Ashleigh Mills, Lucy Moore, Kaitlin Newbery, Eliza Perkins, Chelsea Willey, Bayley Williams, and Arielle Worthington.
The fund is open to local students under 25 who want to further their training and education at university, TAFE, or an accredited training organisation.
It was funded by Whitehaven Coal, Gunnedah West Rotary Club, PRAMS, Forsyths and GSC.
