Since 2006, the Australian New Zealand Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (ANZACC) has generously provided 9 scholarships to citizens of Australia and New Zealand who are participating in exchange studies at Georgia Tech. ANZACC believes that these awards will provide an enriched experience while studying at Georgia Tech and is continuing to look for ways to support the GT Exchange Program and further the cultural bonds between the United States and Australia/New Zealand. ANZACC and Georgia Tech are very proud of our recipients and below you can view more information including photos and testimonials
2006: Roydon Giles Bedford
2008: Marie Petrie-Deeley
2009: Anncila Sharmmilli Gunasingam
2010: Annarose Wilson
2010: Cathy Liu
I attended Georgia Tech for one semester in Fall 2010 as an exchange student from the University of New South Wales. To put it simply (and at the risk of sounding cliched), I loved the time I spent at Georgia Tech and I am very grateful for all the experiences I had there. Academically, Georgia Tech was an eye opener with regard to its rigour, teaching and research quality. All the academics and fellow students I met at Tech were inspirational with their intelligence and work ethic. As a result, the work ethic I picked up at Tech has not only carried me through the exchange semester, but also successfully through my Honours and Masters theses at UNSW as well as my part time and full time jobs. Socially, I loved living in, and learning about, a different culture and I was lucky enough to make many friends with whom I am still very close.
The ANZACC Scholarship assisted me greatly during my time in the US. Financially, the scholarship was a great help and allowed me to stay in International House, which played a huge part in my overall exchange experience. Furthermore, the fact that I did not have to worry about accommodation costs meant that I was able to travel and see more of the country. Even more valuable, though, were the positive interactions I had with the ANZACC organisation. Everyone in the organisation was very welcoming and friendly, and carried with them a wealth of experience. I appreciate all the activities I was able to take part in as well as getting to know, and learning from, the ANZACC members.
I completed both my Bachelor and Masters degrees in December last year. Since February this year, I have been working as an analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia. I came into the RBA as part of their Graduate Development Program. As such, I will most likely be working at the RBA for the next two years at least.
I still tell stories from my time at Georgia Tech very often, and rave about my exchange experiences whenever asked. The ANZACC organisation and the scholarship have both made my exchange experience so much richer, and I am very thankful to Doug and ANZACC, and Georgia Tech for the amazing time I had there!
2011: Kathryn Burrough
I undertook my final semester of my Bachelor of Architectural Studies on exchange at Georgia Tech in the Fall semester of 2011.
Georgia Tech is such a fantastic learning environment. It is friendly and relaxed with staff practising in a close student-teacher manner. They take the time to get to know their students and are quick to provide feedback. My design tutor was exceptional and inspiring. I found Georgia and Georgia Tech in particular to be a very friendly place where people were warm and polite and always willing to help – like our Stingerette (the after hours bus) drivers!
The campus itself is a beautiful place. I enjoyed eating my lunch by the fountain and the ULC was a fantastic place to study at all hours of the night – always warm, bustling with people and the Starbucks was open until the early hours of the morning (and later during exam period).
The student organisation is constantly organising all sorts of great social activities which I took advantage of including: a late night outdoor screening of the movie Horrible Bosses pre-release with free popcorn; a Q&A with Jonah Hill with premier screening of his new TV show; and quick-fire trivia. The university also organised many other events to support their students such as the midnight breakfast during exam period and just for the fun of it such as the much discounted evening at Six Flags (including buses direct from the uni) just for Tech students. I also had many opportunities for social activities and meeting new people with all the activities the OIE put on for us exchange students. The international office was really amazing and supportive. We had several meet and greet events with lunch, dinners, as well as a day of white water rafting.
Georgia Tech also offers pretty exceptional facilities. From their computers, study rooms and printing services to the student rec lounge with cheap air hockey and bowling to the Olympic Sports and Recreation Centre which includes a rock climbing wall and waterslides.
One of the best decisions I made at Georgia Tech was buying a season ticket to the football. Football games were such a fantastic experience – the huge stadium was always full of people in their gold and white and the atmosphere was incredible with Buzz, the cheerleaders, singing the Ramblin’ Wreck song and the half time show with the band.
ANZACC were a fantastic support to me during my time at Georgia Tech. Doug Miell was always in touch to make sure we were getting along alright and offered to assist in any way they could – anything we wanted to see, networking, etc. We were treated to lunch and a baseball game – which I was particularly excited by because I am a big baseball fan. I was able to network and meet some really interesting people through ANZACC and it was nice to hear the familiar Australian accent every now and then!
The scholarship was a fantastic support for when I wanted to do a bit of travelling. The semester was long and fairly intense but I did get away on a couple of the long weekends – one on a road trip with some other friends on exchange to Savannah on the Georgia coast and Charleston in South Carolina and the other was the Thanksgiving when I went down to Tampa in Florida to spend the weekend with a friend’s family. Doing architecture, I also tend to have a lot of extra expenses such a model-making materials and large format printing and having some extra funds for things like this was helpful especially since I had to buy a lot of new tools because I could not bring my large scale cutting mat, blades, ruling equipment, etc. with me.
I graduated from the University of New South Wales after my semester on exchange and am now in my second year of my Masters of Architecture, still at UNSW. I am also undertaking a couple of non-award study courses to contribute towards a Masters in Sustainable Development which I hope to obtain after the completion of my Masters in Architecture.
Thank you Georgia Tech, OIE and ANZACC for being such a great support, organising so many great social activities and networking opportunities for us and making my semester on exchange such an unforgettable experience.
2011: Erik Neilsen
See link for Erik's experiences at Georgia Tech
2012: Sean Connolley
2013: Samuel Vollert
2014: Connor Hanna