Student earns unique international scholarship

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His enthusiasm, maturity and zest for life won him a $50,000 scholarship to the prestigious Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia.

"When I found out I went outside and yelled and threw my hands in the air and said thank you," said Real Carriere, a 16-year-old Metis student from Cumberland House. "I'm still amazed that I got the scholarship."

Carriere applied to an ad for the scholarship competition he saw in a Saskatoon newspaper last February by sending in his high school transcripts and a small biography. The scholarship is funded by Cogema Resources Inc., Mudjatik Thyssen Mining Joint Venture, Cameco Corp., and Northern Resources Trucking, who wanted to give northern students an educational opportunity.

"The other finalists probably had better marks then me," said Carriere. "I think they look for a variety of things, like how good your references were and what sort of life you've lived."

Carriere's 85 per cent high school average along with his outgoing personality put him along- side five other final applicants. The six finalists went through a day of interviews by a panel before the winning recipient was chosen.

"In front of the interview panel and the other students you had to give a five minute speech and field questions for 10 minutes," said Carriere. "It was kind of difficult, and then you had to be interviewed individually by the whole panel."

Carriere is accustomed to schooling away from home. He completed Grade 10 in Michigan while staying with some family friends. The Grade 11 student is now living with his grandmother in Saskatoon while attending Aden Bowman Collegiate.

"It's an honor for him to be chosen," said Renee Carriere, Real's mom. "Still, as a mother, there is always heartache to see your first baby go. We missed him when he went to Michigan and we'll miss him more now."

The college aims to bridge cultural gaps and will give the 200 students - 75 Canadians - an education in understanding people from all parts of the world.

"Everybody will be equal, it's not like in high school where you have to try and fit in," said Carriere. "What I am excited about is to learn how to bridge the gaps culturally and how people who have lived a really tough life like that, how they have been able to cope, to meet them and learn from them."

A sensitivity to the needs of others from other countries who don't speak English was a requirement because the recipient would room with three other such students.

"Real is a very special young man, energetic, and full of life," said Joan Nielsen, assistant registrar for Saskatchewan Education and the chair of the Saskatchewan selection committee for Pearson College. "The recipient has to be gentle and caring. This is an individual who has also been chosen to be an ambassador for the province of Saskatchewan. He is expected to bring back his experience to the province and share it."

Carriere plans to do just that when he returns from the two years at college.

"I can come back and relate this to my cousins. I can tell them stories and maybe influence their lives," he said. "So I can maybe be an example to my cousins and family and other people."

The baccalaureate program the college offers will allow Carriere to finish his Grade 12 and receive some university credits.