C.A.S. Hawker Scholars

Khuslen was named the 2025 Newcastle Young Citizen of the Year and received the Order of Australia Association NSW Youth Community Service Award. She was also the NSW State Champion of the Leo of the Year competition in recognition of her leadership and community service.

Khuslen’s academic interests extend beyond the classroom. Khuslen received first place in the Harvard Undergraduate Law Review’s Fall 2024 Essay Contest for an essay examining predictive sentencing algorithms and their implications for fairness and due process. Khuslen also received a Commendation in the University of Cambridge Robert Walker Prize for Essays in Law for her essay on improving access to legal services.

Throughout high school, Khuslen held a range of leadership positions, including Prefect, Peer Support Leader and President of her school’s Leo Club. As a Leo, she established several community service initiatives, including the Book Nook, which provides free books in disadvantaged communities; Love from Leos, a pen-pal program connecting young people with aged-care residents; and Bus Driver Appreciation Day, a care package program celebrating the efforts of school bus drivers.

Beyond school, Khuslen serves Managing Director of One World, an initiative that has collected and distributed thousands of children’s books to primary schools in rural Mongolia. She also serves on the National Leo Advisory Panel, supporting youth-led service projects across Australia. In 2024, she represented Newcastle in the Y NSW Youth Parliament, where she was elected Shadow Attorney-General.

Khuslen is also an accomplished writer. Her HSC English Extension 2 Major Work was selected for the 2025 Young Writers Showcase, and her short story The Gap won first place in the 2025 Dymocks Beyond Words Writing Competition.

At ANU, Khuslen hopes to further develop her interests in law, public policy and democratic institutions. She aspires to a career in law and public life and hopes to contribute to Australia through scholarship, leadership and community service in the spirit of Charles Hawker.