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“When we asked our laureates how the program had changed them, they said clearly back to us: It hadn’t,” said Andrew Parkin, the associate executive director of the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, at a reception last Wednesday for Dalhousie scholarship winners last week.
But after the initial surprise wore off, they realized “we were looking at everything the wrong way around,” he added. “The value of the program is not that it gives the students something they didn’t have, it’s that it recognizes what you already have and, hopefully, encourages you to use what you have inside you to the fullest extent.”
That recognition is a real boost, said Catherine O’Neill, a third-year student majoring in chemistry and physics, and a winner of the foundation’s Excellence Award.
“It’s extremely gratifying that someone recognizes your challenges and your efforts,” says Ms. O’Neill, from Halifax. Excellence Awards are given on the basis of community involvement combined with academic achievement.
“It’s all about balance. You can’t be a hermit and study, study, study, and not realize what’s going on (outside of class).”
“Having good marks is nice,” said Stephanie Warrington, an electrical engineering student who is also a volunteer firefighter. “But if you can actually help people, well, that’s the really rewarding part.”
Without a renewed mandate from the federal government, the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation is nearing the end of its 10-year lifespan. Created by an act of Parliament in 1998, it was given $2.5 billion to distribute in bursaries and scholarships to undergraduate students across Canada over a decade.
Since 2000, the foundation has distributed 866,000 need-based bursaries worth $2.5 billion, including 12,000 bursaries valued at $37 million to Dalhousie students. The foundation has also awarded 18,000 excellence awards to student across the country, including 238 excellence awards worth $1 million to Dalhousie students.
“We have just over a year of life left,” said Mr. Parkin. “But the federal government has indicated it will deal with the issue of the foundation in the federal budget in a couple of weeks. So, all I can say is … stay tuned.”