Catholic College Wodonga graduate Max Gobel receives major UNSW engineering scholarship

Less than 24 hours before he turned 19, the Catholic College Wodonga graduate found out he had received a scholarship worth almost $50,000 to pursue his chosen university degree.

Mr Gobel was awarded $48,000 after his successful application for the University of NSW Rural Engineering Scholarship, which will see him start his renewable engineering studies in Sydney next month.

He was among the top four students at his school with an ATAR of 97.9, but had leant towards a move to Australian National University in Canberra before the scholarship then came through.

"I was not expecting to get this scholarship. I had a choice of going to ANU in Canberra or taking a gap year," Mr Gobel said.

"I hadn't applied for accommodation in Sydney or anything, but this has definitely opened the door.

"I'll be frantically organising some accommodation to be up there (in Sydney) early in February. It all happened pretty quickly."

The course is a relatively new speciality focused on renewable energy, particularly photovoltaic (solar) cells.

"UNSW has a pretty good reputation for that," Mr Gobel said.

"They have a solar car challenge and they came up with the most efficient solar cell.

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"It's a pretty innovative place so I thought I may as well get amongst it.

"Australia is around only 25 per cent renewable energy at the moment, so we've got a lot of work to do and it's going to be a booming industry, which is really exciting."

Mr Gobel, the nephew of former Indi MP Cathy McGowan, said a passion for renewable energy runs in the family.

"My cousin has a solar energy business, so it's been cool to see that come together," he said.

"There's a lot of family activism.

"Cathy McGowan is my aunt, so I guess I've always been surrounded by energy, pardon the pun.

"I'd like to work for a startup or even a big, innovative company like Tesla.

"If I could start my own company that would be the dream, but it's a lot easier said than done."

Mr Gobel thanked his school careers advisor Sandie McKoy for her help with the scholarship process.

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