Shoalhaven Education Foundation Chair Linda Marquis celebrated at farewell dinner

A farewell dinner was held for Linda in recently to recognise her contributions to supporting school leavers in the region into further education.

Linda has been one of the driving forces behind SEF since it was founded in 2012. Under her stewardship, SEF has grown and helped over 230 local young people with more than $133,000 in grants to support their career goals.

The SEF committee says Linda's passion, care and endless hard work have, literally, changed lives and built futures within our community. Messages of thanks and gratitude have been flowing in to the SEF Facebook page for Linda.

SEF is one of 44 local foundations in the Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) network who support rural and regional school leavers to access further education and training.

Linda says SEF was born out of the Shoalhaven Women's Conference Committee's desire to help the city's youth.

"We formed an affiliation with CEF after learning about how many young people it had assisted," she said.

"We knew there were a lot of young people in the Shoalhaven that needed some assistance and guidance to achieve their career goals. To see the students that we have supported, return to the region after study to begin their careers, has brought me so much joy."

CEF CEO Juliet Petersen said Linda has been an inspiring committee member.

"We are so lucky to have had the ongoing support and commitment of Linda as Chair of SEF, to support school leavers in the Shoalhaven. SEF has always demonstrated a great drive to help and support many young people in the region," Juliet said.

"We look forward to a new Chair and a new chapter for SEF and I have no doubt that Linda's legacy to the region will always be remembered."