28 October 2009 South Canterbury connections continue

Following in the footsteps of generations of South Canterbury students who have made their way to Lincoln University seeking the firm career foundation of an internationally recognised tertiary qualification is Morgan Bowles from Temuka.

Morgan, a past pupil of Opihi College, is a second year student in Lincoln University's Bachelor of Agriculture programme and he's loving his experience of New Zealand's specialist land-based university.

Currently there are over 140 students from South Canterbury enrolled at Lincoln University.

The son of Richard and Leesa Bowles - Richard manages an intensive cropping operation at The Levels - Morgan attended Pleasant Point Primary School and went on to Pleasant Point High before it closed, then moved to Opihi College.

"South Canterbury is a great region," he says, "it's got everything going for it in terms of resources and assets and I am very pleased to hear about this new arrangement between Lincoln University and Aoraki Polytechnic. It will be good for the district."

Morgan's ultimate ambition is to follow in his father's footsteps of farm management then into farm ownership and he is laying a solid foundation at Lincoln University, involving himself in a wide range of sporting and other activities to balance and complement his academic studies.

He's a good student who applies himself well and holds scholarships including the Mercer Reid Scholarship for Opihi College students studying agriculture and the South Island Agricultural Field Days Scholarship.

Morgan says it is "important to get on top of your study and your assignments before branching out and doing other things".

Right now it's the exam season and he is quietly confident that he will wrap up the second year of his degree successfully.

"If you get your preparation done early, exams are okay," he says.

He particularly likes the "real life" approach to teaching that Lincoln University offers and the use of guest speakers to bring outside perspectives to what is being taught.

"For example, we've had guest speakers in our Management course from Fonterra, Meat & Wool New Zealand and the Oakley's Premium Fresh Vegetables company."

He is also impressed with the quality of teaching at Lincoln University and describes lecturers he has such as Warwick Scott, Rainer Hofmann and Nie Lees as "great".

Practical work is an important component of many Lincoln University courses. In his first year Morgan spent time on a large cropping farm in Timaru and in the coming Christmas holidays he will be going to a large sheep and beef unit up in Hakataramea Valley.

"With the practical work it's good to get out and learn new things and I always look forward to it throughout the year of study. I knew about Lincoln by reputation before I came here, but hadn't visited the campus until I came on a school visit in Year 11. It's a great campus for meeting people and most of the people I now flat with I met in my first year in the halls of residence."

Outside of study, Morgan has been active in the revival of the Young Farmers' Club at Lincoln University. Student Recruitment Officer Abby Shaw, from a Central Otago farming family, got things going and Morgan is now the Chairperson. Activities have included running a Gun Licence course and a Chemical Handling Certificate course.

Now, about those generations of South Canterbury students who have come to Lincoln University. It's a little known fact that the brother of Timaru Boys' High School's most famous son, Olympic athlete Jack Lovelock, studied agriculture at Lincoln University. James Lovelock enlisted for service in the Second World War and flew as a navigator with the RAF. He was killed in 1943 when his bomber was shot down on a raid over Germany.

Another former Timaru Boys' High School connection is with a former Director-General of Agriculture, Malcolm Cameron, who studied at Lincoln University in the 1940s and later became Chancellor of Lincoln University.