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St. Clair College is pleased to announce that it has two Millennium Scholarship winners. Paul McAllister, Civil Engineering Technology, and Lori Maisonville, Educational Assistant, have each won one of these prestigious scholarships. McAllister was one of 700 winners winning $4,000 while Maisonville was among 200 who won $4,000, renewable for up to one year.
McAllister said the application was rigorous, but worth it. “The application process was pretty extensive,” said McAllister. “I had to fill out about 8 or 9 pages of questions and information with a letter of reference from a previous teacher. I also had to include in the information my community background, school involvement and my resume.”
According to the scholarship website, the objectives of the scholarship are to improve access to post-secondary education for all Canadians, especially those facing economic or social barriers; to encourage a high level of student achievement and engagement in Canadian society; and to build a national alliance of organizations and individuals around a shared post-secondary agenda.
Maisonville is excited that this scholarship will not only help her education, but help her build an education for her children. “All that I'm learning (in post-secondary) will help me to assist my two children, now in grade school, as they carve out their educational goals over the next six to seven years and embrace post-secondary school education,” said Maisonville.
Since 2000, the Foundation has delivered more than half a million bursaries and scholarships worth more than $2.2 billion to students across Canada by recognizing thousands of high achieving and engaged students whose dedication to community service is an inspiration to all Canadians. The bursaries have assisted hundreds of thousands of Canadian students as they pursue their post-secondary education by reducing their student debt.
McAllister said since he focused all his time to his studies in his first year, he didn’t have time to work. “I dedicated myself completely to school,” said McAllister. “I would be at school from 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. until 12 a.m. on many nights every week. Sometimes I would be at school until 3 or 4 a.m. trying to keep a week ahead with my studies, therefore I would never have time to work and that is where this money helps so much.”
Maisonville says that without the support of professors, she wouldn’t have even applied for the scholarship. “I'd like to thank Tony Gebrail, Pam Skillings and Judy Ducharme of my faculty in the Educational Assistant Program at St.Clair College who have especially inspired and supported me in reaching my full potential,” said Maisonville.
The Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation is a private, independent organization created by an act of Parliament in 1998. The Foundation distributes $325 million in the form of bursaries and scholarships each year throughout Canada.
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