Rabi Nimrod Simono’s Shcolarship

RNS aims to:

1. honour the highly academic Assyrian minority of Australia by commemorating the Assyrian scholar Rabi Nimroud Simono.
2. enhance in our Assyrian children a sense of self-esteem and to encourage them to gain knowledge and skills in their chosen fields of learning beyond their HSC,
3. develop cultural awareness and allegiance within the younger Assyrian Australian generations,
4. demonstrate to our youth that our Assyrian community and organisations want them to achieve excellence in all fields of education and that they have a support system within the community that they can rely on,
5. promote community involvement and contribution, through commitment and moral expectations and,
6. develop a sense of belonging, responsibility, appreciation and pride towards the applicant’s community which supports them, fostering a desire to lead within the Assyrian Australian community.

As can be seen from the aims listed above, the main theme of RNS is education. The AAA is proud to have supported and encouraged education amongst our youth since its establishment in 1969. Education enriches an individual’s life, and a society or community were educated people abound is a happier and more enlightened society.

The six aims listed above also clearly demonstrate the AAA’s desire to encourage a generation of educated people in our community so that they will be well equipped to lead a more fulfilling life and be of more value both to their community and their country.

Another significant aim of the scholarship was to honour a distinguished educator in our Assyrian nation. Rabi Nimrod Simono, who devoted well in excess of 60 years of his life serving our nation in the field of Assyrian language and literature.

How did RNS start?

Rabi Nimrod Simono, a distinguished Assyrian scholar from Iran and one of the giants of Assyrian literature in the twentieth century, came to Australia in 1985 as a guest of the Assyrian Australian Association (AAA) in Sydney. The main purpose of his visit was to conduct a course in the Assyrian language and to deliver a series of lectures on Assyrian history and culture to the Assyrian communities in Sydney and Melbourne. The Assyrian language course, which covered such asubjects as an introduction to Modern Assyrian Grammar and teaching methodology, was conducted at Fairfield High School from 22nd April 1985 to 6th August 1985.

The AAA decided to honour Rabi Simono and to commemorate his historic first visit to Australia by establishing an educational scholarship and naming it after him – Rabi Nimrod Simono Scholarship.

What are the RNS guidelines?

The first and founding Scholarship Committee, chaired by the late Dr Albert Daoud, was set up in 1986 to administer and run the Scholarship under a set of guidelines, which are updated from time to time.

Under the current guidelines:

• Eligibility is open to all graduated Higher School Certificate (HSC) students who have at least one Assyrian parent,
• Three students with the highest HSC ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) are chosen to receive a scholarship monetary prize provided that they are prepared to pursue higher studies at a university,
• RNS recipients must undertake to learn to read and write the Assyrian language through the Assyrian Australian Association Diqlat School,
• RNS recipients must demonstrate their desire to help back the community after graduating from their tertiary education through and
• Scholarship applicants must be members of the Assyrian Australian Association.
  Not a member yet? Easy. For $5.50 you can become a financial member of the Assyrian Australian Association that constantly assists its community to grow as Assyrian Australians. Check out our initiatives here.

Whilst the Scholarship applicants or their parents are under no obligation to become members of the Assyrian Australian Association, they are urged and encouraged to join, support and be active in the Assyrian community organisation of their choice, especially after they complete their university studies and pursue their chosen career paths.

What do we expect from past RNS recipients?

The Assyrian Australian Association invites it’s past recipients to participate in the upcoming RNS event as we work towards building our community in Australia to be more connected to the Australian culture, to be empowered by knowledge and to stay in tune with our heritage and language. After all, “it takes a village to raise a child” and we hope that the child grows to help raise another. The work is much but the workers are few.

Imagine if we all pull in together to create a solid network for our community in Australia. Let’s make it happen! Let’s keep the cycle going! Let’s make a new kind of history for our people that glorifies our past and embraces our future!

Want to donate?

Contact the Assyrian Australian Association and let us know how you can help us help our people. Donating is not only about money. We value your time, you commitment and your desire to help. Bring it over and help us raise our future Assyrian Australian generation to make our ancestors proud.