Rahul Rises to the Top

BGS student Rahul Kumar has been selected for a prestigious educational program backed by a former CEO of Google and the charity which oversees the Rhodes Scholarship.

Rahul is one of just 100 Global Winners to be chosen in 2022 for Rise, which identifies and supports exceptional young people as they work to serve others.

As a result, Rahul will now have access to a lifetime of benefits through scholarships, mentorship, career development opportunities and funding.

“I saw a video for Rise on social media and decided to apply,” Rahul said. “One of the benefits is that I will receive funding to go overseas for three weeks to attend a summit with other Rise participants.”

Rise was founded in 2019 by US-based philanthropic organisation Schmidt Futures, and The Rhodes Trust, based at The University of Oxford.

Eric Schmidt, a former CEO of Google, described the program as “a grand experiment” to see if supporting a cohort of brilliant teenagers can produce a network of changemakers capable of solving the most pressing global issues.

Rahul is a two-time winner of the School’s TC Baker-Finch Memorial Prize for Computing, and one of just four Australian students to win a Rise scholarship.

With a passion for software development, he has also created the EmSafe app to help marginalised communities access healthcare services.

“My family likes to do road trips around Australia, and what I’ve seen is that in many places there is very limited information for people about how to call emergency services,” Rahul explained.

“In Victoria, for example, the government-run app, Emergency Plus, only works in Australia and only supports three or four languages.”

Headmaster Anthony Micallef congratulated Rahul and encouraged him to make the most of the opportunity.

“This is a wonderful achievement and a fitting reward for Rahul’s hard work and commitment to study,” Mr Micallef said.

“Thousands of people from around the world apply for this program, so Rahul now has an incredible opportunity to work alongside some of the world’s brightest young minds.

As we prepare for the opening of the new STEAM Precinct, Rahul’s achievement is a reminder of the quality of students we have here at Brisbane Grammar School.

The Rise scholarship puts Rahul, the eldest of three brothers at BGS, in a good position as he enters his final year of school in 2023.

Born in London to a Malaysian father and an Australian mother from Toowoomba, Rahul takes inspiration from his older sister, who is studying a PhD at The University of Oxford.

While he hopes to one day work in software engineering, for now he is focused on getting the best marks possible in Year 12.

“A lot of software engineering jobs are changing as new technologies are invented, so I will see where the future takes me,” Rahul said.

“I don’t have a particular university in mind just yet, but I’m looking here in Australia and also overseas. I’m originally from the UK, so I’d like to go back there.”