Vote for Murray!

Voting is underway in the People's Choice section of the AMP Scholarships, and there is no shortage of eager young and not-so-young people seeking help to advance their careers. The bases are pretty much covered, from the traditional academic careers to a diverse range of things such as cricket umpiring, youth development through dance, and international diplomacy. There are some talented and aspirational people out there, and a visit to the website is well worth the investment of a few minutes of your time.

But there's one applicant who is different on a number of levels. Murray Hill is well-known around the blogosphere and on Facebook. We say "well-known", but Murray reckons that "notorious" might be a better fit! He 's certainly not backward at coming forward with an opinion. Murray recently completed a degree at Massey University as an adult student, majoring in Classical Studies and History. He is now in the post-graduate phase of study which he hopes will lead to a PhD in something rather different; pre-gunpowder artillery.

Murray is also the founder of 22AD, a Palmerston North-based group which, according to its Facebook site "operates over a dozen machines of various scale and types from tennis ball throwing ballistae to large Medieval trebuchets which throw cement balls and demoloish wood block walls at public events." He has applied for the AMP Scholarship to help him build the world's largest working ballista, which will be demonstrated to schools and at public events, bringing history to life.

We've voted for Murray at the Do Your Thing website, and would ask that you seriously consider doing likewise. Ballistae and trebuchets and other historic artillery are Murray's passion, and we reckon that his project is absolutely worthy of support. We'll leave the final word to Murray, from his application (in Trebuchet font, of course!):

I build and demonstrate catapults for kids. They can learn history, maths, physics, engineering and mechanics while getting to smash stuff!