Funds received for higher education

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Hard work and dedication have earned three Aboriginal students-Ariane Starblanket Skawenniio Barnes, and Kelvin Redvers-millennium excellence awards from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

"I was very overwhelmed when I first found out about this award," said Starblanket. I was really excited and it was kind of a relief because all of my hard work throughout my high school years has been looked at and I was being honored for it."

She said she heard about this scholarship at the last minute. Her teachers pushed her to apply for it and, to her surprise, she received a letter in the mail two months later saying she was selected.

"I was so frantic getting my stuff in because I was cutting it close to the deadline date and I said that I would just apply next year, but my teachers helped me to get it in. My teacher actually drove me to the post office five minutes before it closed."

Starblanket said she would buy a computer with the scholarship money and will use the rest for additional school costs. She will be attending First Nations University Canada and will be studying in the Indian Education program at the Regina campus.

Barnes was one of 100 students to receive a National Excellence Award from the foundation. She will receive a cash award of $5,000, renewable for up to three additional years (to a maximum of $20,000).

Redvers will be putting some of the scholarship money towards tuition and books at Simon Fraser University. He said it would also take care of some of the extra costs in the film program he plans to attend.