Cara Varian is the founding Managing Director of the Harding Miller Education Foundation, an organisation that provides scholarships to high-potential girls who are experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. Each scholarship is valued at over $20,000 and supports a public high school girl studying from years 9 to 12. Since the foundation started in 2016, it has distributed more than $24 million in scholarships to support more than 1,200 students nationally, including 721 girls in NSW.
The scholarships are multi-layered and personalised to support students at their school, in their homes with their families and in their communities. As well as providing students with tools and resources to support them to achieve their academic potential, the scholarships provide experiences and training to support students’ transition to tertiary education and a career.
The scholarships set the students up to experience a lifetime of opportunity and choice, and pave the way for them to become tomorrow’s leaders, bringing a greater diversity of experience to the face of leadership in Australia.