Soroptimist scholarship recipients revealed for 2023

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Two Murray Bridge students have got a helping hand from a local service club as they head off to university.

Murray Bridge High School’s Riley Lienert and Unity College’s Kalder Bormann have each received a $2000 scholarship from the local branch of Soroptimist International.

The club’s scholarship program usually recognises one community-minded year 12 graduate each year.

But this year, coordinator Robin Wilson said club members had been unable to split the pair – so they awarded two lots of funding.

Basketballer and footballer Kalder said he had originally dreamed of getting into sports management, trading players and picks for the Adelaide Crows.

As he neared the end of his school years, though, he decided he wanted a career with more of a purpose – so he settled on occupational therapy.

“What a cool job that would be,” he said.

He looked forward to “helping a wide range of people … with whatever they want to get back into in everyday life, whether they be kids trying to learn or somebody trying to make a cup of tea”.

Riley – having made his mark as an innovator and walking away with a swag of awards at the end of year 12 – said he planned to study computer science at the University of Adelaide.

He hoped to major in cybersecurity or artificial intelligence, and to end up “making cool products for society”.

Both students thanked the Soroptimists for the contribution towards their education.

This was only the fifth time the Soroptimists had recognised two students in one year since launching the scholarship program in 1991.