The Governor will encourage Pinnacle Foundation scholars in the pursuit of higher education ambitions.

The Pinnacle Foundation has announced that the Governor of Victoria, Her Excellency The Honourable Linda Dessau AM, will be welcomed as the new Patron-in-Chief.

The Pinnacle Foundation is a national organisation that works with and provides marginalised and disadvantaged 16-24-year-old LGBTIQ students with scholarships and mentor programs. The organisation is the only one of its kind in Australia. Welcoming the new Patron-in-Chief is a unique privilege for the charity.

Paul Zahra, Pinnacle’s chair and diversity adviser at PwC said, “It’s an incredible honour for The Pinnacle Foundation to announce its first Vice-Regal Patron-in-Chief and we are privileged to have Her Excellency, with her long-term professional commitment to the well-being of young people.

Her Excellency is known as an advocate for diversity and unity within the community. Formally a judge of the family court of Australia for 18 years, she made the history of becoming Victoria’s first female Governor in 2015.

The Governor will connect with and encourage the current and future Pinnacle Foundation scholars in the pursuit of their higher education ambitions. Earlier this month, Her Excellency and husband Judge Anthony Howard hosted a lunch that Victorian Pinnacle scholars and their mentors had the privilege of attending at Victoria’s Government House.

Earlier this year, The Pinnacle Foundation announced it would provide scholarships to 25 new and continuing LGBTIQ scholars to assist in secondary or tertiary education.

Applications for the 2017 scholarships are now open and close on 1 October 2016.

Learn more about The Pinnacle Foundation.