A LLANDOVERY College student, Katie Fear, has made history by being awarded a prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship.

Based at the University of North Carolina, USA, the Morehead-Cain Scholarship Programme is highly competitive, rigorous and extremely selective and only individuals who are exceptional young people displaying resilience, leadership, academic excellence and physical rigour are selected.

A college spokesperson said: "This year out of a total of 5,400 applicants only 70 have been successful.

"We are incredibly proud to say that head girl Katie is one of those 70 and in turn one of only five British recipients of whom two are Welsh."

The purpose of the Morehead-Cain Foundation is to identify and invest in the promising leaders of the future, challenging them to make a profound impact on the people and pursuits that define their lives.

The benefactors both believed that the best way to improve society’s future was to bring talented young leaders to a great university and set them free to discover their talents. It is truly a lifelong honour to be selected and the opportunities, challenges and experiences that await Katie are vast and offer her an exceptional future.

Katie follows in the footsteps of over 3,200 Morehead-Cain Scholars and Fellows who have left a legacy of leadership and service to the community and their contributions to society across the world is simply immeasurable.

On her scholarship offer, Katie Fear said: “I'm super excited and grateful for this opportunity, I've had so much fun meeting so many new people through the application process and I'm really looking forward to starting this awesome journey!”

Katie can look forward to a full four-year scholarship covering tuition, books, accommodation, a laptop computer and four summer experiences known as the Morehead-Cain’s Summer Enrichment Programme.

These are activities for students that focus on: outdoor leadership where they push themselves physically and mentally through a number of individual and group challenges; civic collaboration where they are placed in mid-sized US cities and partner with a governmental or community organisation helping to develop solutions to local and regional challenges; global perspective where students pursue global-minded work; and professional experience where students work in a professional capacity ranging from policy work with the World Health Organisation to investment banking and industry research with Goldman Sachs.

Warden of Llandovery College, Dominic Findlay, said: “We are all so proud of Katie’s achievements both in College and now in gaining this superb scholarship. To be selected from over 5000 high quality students is a testament to her hard work and dedication – she is a wonderful role model for all our current students at the College.”