Martensville High School (MHS) Grade 12 student Shaelagh Stephan, has been selected for the Schulich Leader Scholarship, which will help pay for her schooling at Western University’s Faculty of Engineering program. The value of the scholarship is $100,000, and it’s payable over four years at the university which is located in Ontario.
Up to 100 Schulich Leader Scholarships are awarded to graduating Grade 12 students nation wide and Stephan said she was “shocked and excited” to be one of the recipients.
“I’m really grateful, and it’s a bit overwhelming,” she said. “When I applied for it I had no idea if I was going to get it or not … and then I got the (confirmation) email.”
Secondary schools across the country are only allowed to nominate one student for the Schulich Leader Scholarship and Stephan said this is the first time that a MHS student had actually been selected for the scholarship.
The scholarship partners with 20 universities across Canada and at Western University there were three scholarships allocated to the engineering program.
The scholarship is only for students who are enrolling in a STEM based program at any of the partnered universities across Canada, and nominees must be entrepreneurial-minded.
“Students going in to an engineering program are eligible for the $100,000 scholarship; whereas students going in to science, technology and Math are eligible for the $80,000 scholarship,” said Stephen.
It is quite the achievement to earn this scholarship and the work Stephan has put in to be named a recipient has definitely paid off because the $100,000 will cover the majority of her expenses.
“This will pay for all my schooling and living. Because it is in Ontario, I will be living away from home,” she said.
Students who are enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering program will take the same courses as a basic introduction to engineering as a whole, before branching in to a specific program.
“For your second to fourth year, you are in a more specialized program. And the program I would like to get in to is called integrated engineering,” said Stephen.
One of the main reasons why she is interested in the integrated engineering program, is it focuses on different streams of engineering including, civil, chemical, electrical and mechanical.
“Instead of doing more theoretical work in a classroom, you get to work with different companies to solve real world problems while still in university,” she said.
Additional benefits of the scholarship include: first choice of residence, guaranteed entrance into her first choice of an engineer program after successfully completing her first year of studies, and a guaranteed student research position with a Western Engineer professor in the summer between first and second year.