Shropshire Star

Organ scholarship award is a first for Shropshire college

A Shropshire student who only took up organ playing two years ago has been elected to a prestigious organ scholarship at the University of Cambridge.

Published
Davon Halim

The highly sought-after scholarship award has been made to 17-year-old Davon Halim who is a sixth form student at Acton Burnell-based Concord College.

There are limited places for the scholarship, which is awarded only every two years, and this is a first for the college.

Davon, who started at Concord in September 2019, competed remotely against a competitive field to win the scholarship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, after a vigorous four-day audition.

Speaking of his much sought-after scholar election, he said: “I am proud and very fortunate for the support I have received at Concord.”

Davon, who is from Indonesia, is currently studying mathematics, further mathematics, economics and physics.

Benefits of the scholarship include a dedicated boarding room at Christ’s College with a piano and space for practising his music.

Organ and singing tuition will be fully paid for and he will also be the recipient of £450 to put towards other resources for his music or studies.

Dr Rob Pugh, Concord College assistant principal (careers & university admissions), said: “We are all immensely proud of Davon for his success in the Cambridge organ trials and for meeting the standard required by Christ’s College to achieve an academic offer.

“Davon is the first to realise there is still work to do to achieve the offer conditions, but this success alone deserves to be celebrated.

“We are hoping that our students feel more comfortable demonstrating their knowledge in the virtual world after Concord’s remote learning programme in lockdown, and hybrid learning at the start of this term.”

With record-breaking A-level results of Concord’s 2020 leavers the college has reached the formidable milestone of 100 Oxbridge places in just the last five years.

Fifteen students from the class of 2020 are now attending the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge, with 73 applications this year.

Dr Pugh added: “The number of applications highlights the prominence of such prestigious institutions and the ever-high aspirations of our students applying to a variety of fields.”

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.