Quicksilver Group News

February 10th, 2012

Quicksilver Again looks to the next Generation

Quicksilver Connections scholarship program for employees, now in it’s second year will see six additional employees children being assisted as they begin in full time study for University bachelor degrees.

An initiative of Mr Shin Watari, Chairman and Owner of Quicksilver Connections, his vision is to assist employees with the cost of University education for their Children. Mr Watari said “As Australia’s leading Great Barrier Reef cruise operator and one of the region’s largest private employers I consider our staff to be our greatest asset. As a result last year after talking to one of our managers about the cost involved in sending his child to University I realized just what a commitment it was for a family and wanted to do something to help. It was pleasing to be able to assist 3 existing students and 4 new students last year. This year we will see 6 additional students join the program.

It is impressive that the 6 parents have worked for our Company for a total of 77 years and are employed in diverse jobs from reservations, skipper to a dive technician, with 2 of the children not even born when their parent started working for Quicksilver and Great Adventures. Two of the parents now will have 2 children each in the scholarship program.

These parents have been dedicated to our Company and the Quicksilver Group is now looking to help their children achieve their dreams and hopefully find a career where they can offer future companies the same passion and commitment their parents have given to our Company.”

Each student will initially be presented with $1,000. If they achieve a credit average then they will receive an additional $1,000 each semester with additional bonuses should they receive higher grades for individual subjects.

Tony Baker, Managing Director, Quicksilver Group said, “ This has been a wonderful initiative by Shin Watari, who believes that providing children with the opportunity of higher education is very important. Today, education can open up many opportunities and the young adults who are part of our program will be studying diverse degrees from Medicine and Surgery, Engineering, Social Work and Pharmacy.

Now in its second year it will continue to be an ongoing commitment and we look forward to welcoming more students in the coming years.”