Harriet Nixon was a bright, compassionate 21-year-old who had her heart and mind set on changing the world.
But the her life was cut short when she died suddenly in an accident at a music festival in 2016.
Now the residential college where she was living will honour her memory with a scholarship to help other students from rural and regional Australia live and study at the Australian National University.
Current principal of Burgmann College, Alex McKenzie, was in year 10 when he sat next to a bubbly young woman called Harriet on a plane to Tasmania.
They crossed paths on the Overland Track and stayed in touch on Facebook. Then their lives crossed paths again when Mr McKenzie decided to join Harriet at Burgmann College in 2016.
Mr McKenzie was part of a group of students who decided to work at the Lost Paradise music festival in Glenworth Valley on the NSW Central Coast.
On a break from setting up the festival, Harriet was struck by a large tree branch and later died in hospital.
The sudden loss had a profound impact on her family and the Burgmann College community, advancement director Amelia Zaraftis said.
"Right from the day that we lost Harriet, it's very clear that she made an extraordinary impact on the lives of everybody that she encountered," Ms Zaraftis said.
"She was just one of those people who was incredibly determined to make a positive difference in the world."
Harriet grew up in Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands. She attended Moss Vale Primary School, Oxley College and Geelong Grammar's Timbertop Campus.
She took a gap year before moving to Burgmann College to begin her bachelor of arts and law in 2015. She raised awareness and funds for mental health charity Batyr by organising the Civic 2 Surf relay event from Canberra to Sydney.
Mr McKenzie said his friend would have been a change-maker, either through politics or a peak body representing regional Australia.
Harriet's mother, Fiona Nixon, said her daughter was kind, gracious and had wisdom beyond her years.
"When Harriet lost her life, it was really Burgmann that held us in that crucial time," she said.
"I will be forever grateful for that. And that's why the scholarship means so much."
Mrs Nixon volunteered at the college and created a garden for the community to sit and remember Harriet.
The college wanted to expand the bursaries and grants program and Ms Zaraftis approached Ms Nixon's family about the possibility of naming a scholarship after Harriet.
Mrs Nixon said her family, including husband Ralph and their younger daughter Alicia, were "immensely grateful and very humbled" by the new scholarship fund to support regional students.
"I had to sit on it for a little while. As a mother, I felt quite protective of her and wanted to retain her ... just who she is, who she was," Mrs Nixon said.
"I still find it hard to talk about her in the past tense."
The scholarship will be for a student from rural, regional or remote Australia. A committee will consider financial need, academic merit and community contribution in awarding the scholarship of $10,000 per year.
The scholarship will cover 40 per cent of the fees for a fully catered undergraduate package and will be indexed over time.
Mr McKenzie, who grew up in Tamworth, said the scholarship would change the lives of many regional students.
"I think it's such a great thing and it just shows that her legacy continues to live on," Mr McKenzie said.
"When I was able to share the news that we were doing this, [my college friends] were just so happy and so excited, because she did have a really big impact on a lot of people."
The scholarship was launched as the college marked the 20th anniversary of the postgraduate student village.
Mr McKenzie worked for the government before coming back to the college as dean, then deputy principal and now principal.
"There's a few cosmetic changes ... but in terms of the ethos of the community, I don't think it's changed at all."
- The Harriet Nixon Scholarship Appeal is accepting donations via burgmann.anu.edu.au/support-burgmann/annual-appeal
