Aboriginal students awarded scholarships to pursue goals

Two Saskatchewan high school students are feeling a little less pressure and a lot more excitement about starting university in the Fall, now that they won one of the most prestigious scholarships in Canada.
Tara Desroches, a 17-year-old Métis student from Saskatoon, is thrilled about not having to rely on a student loan after she found out she was a recipient of the Provincial Excellence Award from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which is worth $20,500.
"I was really happy, I didn't think I was actually going to get it," said Desroches, as she described her shock when she was notified about the award.
The second recipient, Jennifer Bozek, 18, also of Métis descent and from Meadow Lake, said she will certainly make use of her $4,500 Excellence Award when she attends the University of Saskatchewan in September.
"I am staying in the dorms my first year so I think some of the money will help with dorms and the other part will help with tuition," she said, and added that she was inspired to apply for the award after seeing two of her friends win in past years.
Desroches and Bozek are two of the seven Aboriginal students who received Millennium Excellence Awards for the 2010 school year.
With just under 10,000 applicants applying for the chance to win 1000 entrance awards that are given out yearly, the recipients are not only extremely bright and gifted, but also very lucky.
"It's big. We usually have nine applicants for every winner," said Andrew Woodall, Director of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation Program.
The Excellence Entrance Award has three levels of recognition. The national award is worth $2,500, the provincial award is $20,500 and the local level is valued at $4,500.
The awards, which have been dispersed to Canadian students since 2000, have very specific criteria that applicants must possess in order to qualify for consideration.
"The objective of the award is to recognize, support and encourage students who have shown exceptional merit in academics, high levels of community engagement and leadership and an interest in social innovation," said Woodall.
After skimming through the backgrounds of both Desroches and Bozek, there is no question as to why they stood out amongst thousands of applicants.
Desroches, who is a grade 12 student at E.D. Feehan Catholic High School, achieves high marks, is a member of her student council and is involved with her school's multicultural club. She also performs with the Whispering Winds dance troupe and still finds time to volunteer her time with children in her community.
"I'm involved in so many things I have lost count," said Desroches, who hopes to enroll in the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) at the U of S, "I want to be a teacher so bad."
Carpenter High School student, Bozek, has a similarly busy schedule. The avid athlete launched a newspaper at her school and voluntarily mentors young children in an after-school program at Jubilee Elementary School.
Bozek continues to strive for greatness as she aspires to become an optometrist.
"The idea is to lighten the burden of having to pay for [post-secondary] so they can keep on doing the amazing work they have been doing," explained Woodall, who admitted that the recipients had to devote a significant amount of energy just to complete the application for the award.
"It's a challenging form, but good challenging," he said.
Applicants are asked to answer an extensive list of questions that enables them to "paint a picture" of themselves; including life experiences, community contributions and leadership roles. Woodall emphasized that grades are taken into consideration when choosing the winners, but only as one of the many factors that are evaluated.
All of the recipients were invited to Regina to attend a ceremony in their honour at Government House on June 8.
Since its inception in June 2000, the Millennium Excellence Award Program has helped Canadian students, but after this year, it will no longer be available.
"We were founded with a 10 year mandate and this is the end of the mandate," said Woodall.
However, the foundation's Millennium Bursary Program, which provides money to students who have particularly low incomes and are in great financial need, will continue on.
Since 2000, the Foundation has delivered almost one million bursaries and scholarships worth $3 billion to students across Canada through its different awards programs.