Graduate secures prestigious st andrew's college scholarship

It’s not quite Hogwarts, but Nathan Sewart reckons Sydney’s St Andrew’s College comes close.

Nathan – who was Blackfriars’ 2023 proxime accessit with an ATAR of 99.70 – is one of only three recipients of the St Andrew’s Scholars Award. There were hundreds of applicants from across Australia for the awards.

The scholarship – worth $120,000 over three years – will allow Nathan to live at St Andrew’s College while studying at the University of New South Wales, where he will undertake a Bachelor of Actuarial Studies and a Bachelor of Science (Advanced Mathematics) (Honours).

Nathan, 18, was awarded the scholarship based on his volunteer work, community and school service, academic results and co-curricular involvement, including music and debating.

“The Bachelor of Actuarial Science is only offered in Sydney, so if I didn’t get this scholarship, then I would have had to settle for my second preference,” Nathan said, adding that St Andrew’s College was very “Hogwartsy”.

Former PM a Research Project coup for student

When Nathan Sewart started looking into the barriers faced by female politicians, there was one person he wanted to interview above all others – Julia Gillard.

Actuaries apply mathematical, statistical, economic and financial analyses and problem-solving to evaluate risk and opportunity across a wide range of business problems – from pricing products or managing risk, to finding solutions for social and economic challenges.

“It’s really just using maths at a high level,” said Nathan, who was at Blackfriars from Reception.

“It was actually Ms (Angela) Collins who told me about the degree. I hadn’t heard of it until then.”

Nathan Sewart (BPS’23) will live at St Andrew’s College in Sydney after securing a scholarship.

His love of maths was nurtured by a series of enthusiastic teachers over his years at Blackfriars.

“It’s always just been the subject that I could do, that I was good at,” Nathan said.

“I had great teachers every year. In Year 2, Miss (Valerie) Frost took me aside … and she just did so much for me.

“Then Mr (Sam) Capurso, Mr (Joseph) Burford … I couldn’t have asked for better. Those consistently great teachers just made me love the subject.”

While Nathan will be unable to attend the 2023 Laureate Assembly, he planned to keep in touch with the Blackfriars community.

“The course that I am doing has three trimesters, so … I will be able to come back to Blackfriars to visit during school time.”

What is an actuary?

Actuaries are professionals in risk management. They help businesses, government agencies, not-for-profits and individuals make critical future decisions by designing creative solutions to minimise business risk.

They apply mathematical, statistical, economic and financial analyses and problem-solving to evaluate risk and opportunity across a wide range of business problems – from pricing products or managing risk, to finding solutions for social and economic challenges.

Actuaries commonly work in banking, financial services, the insurance industry, superannuation, wealth management, investments, corporate finance, health care, health insurance and financing, as well as data analytics, energy resources, the environment and consulting.

Source: University of New South Wales