Silk-Miller Scholarship

The Club’s longest running program is the Silk-Miller Scholarship, instigated in 1999 and named in memory of the two slain officers, Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller. It is awarded to a serving Victoria Police member who successfully applies to undertake a Graduate Diploma in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing. The Club funds 50% of the course fees and 50% is funded by the member. The course takes two years to complete and is run by the University of Melbourne, targeting those professionals working with adolescents.

At the time, Rotary’s focus was on health matters which included the issues of youth suicide prevention and youth mental illness. The Club welcomed the potential of a link with Victoria Police, as one of the critical agencies involved with youth.

Through better education and trained police officers dealing with youth, it was expected to lead to better acceptance by Victoria Police generally of the need to understand how young people “tick” and how Victoria Police could develop better strategies in dealing with them. It was considered that enhanced interventionist strategies would assist the youth in our communities with mental health issues and potentially reduce youth suicide rates. This was in the context of the course aim to improve young people’s life chances by focusing on adolescents at a critical life stage.

The Club has invested some $280,000 in today’s dollars, in the scholarship program.

A short video prepared by the University of Melbourne can be accessed through the following link. It features interviews with past graduates who outline the impact the course has had on their work with youth.