Yorkton Regional High School student Connor Watrych could potentially win a major scholarship. He is one of 88 students travelling to Toronto to interview in the final selection process for the Loran Scholarship Foundation. He could potentially receive a scholarship valued at $100,000, to cover four years of undergraduate studies.
The scholarships are selected on the basis of evidence character, commitment to service in the community and leadership potential. The awards includes annual stipends, tuition waivers from partner universities, mentorship, summer internship funding as well as annual retreats and forums.
If not selected, he is still eligible for a $5,000 finalist award.
Watrych, who travels to Toronto on Wednesday for the final selection, said that it is a pretty big honor to be among the final 88 students up for the award.
“Beyond interviewing for the scholarship, just getting to meet those other 87 people that are all there because they are doing great things in their community, the future leaders of our generation, I think it’s awesome to be all in the same room together,” Watrych said.
Describing the selection so far as a pretty lengthy process, Watrych said that he is not sure what made him stand out among the students in Canada.
“Even meeting the 20 people from Saskatchewan chosen, those people on their own were absolutely great. I have no idea what made them choose me, I hope it was my leadership and my involvement in my community.”
This isn’t the first part of the interview process, and Watrych said that he feels like earlier rounds have given him some insight on what to do in the next round.
“One of the things I got from the first interviews was come in and just be yourself, be prepared to be yourself. Anything other than that isn’t genuine, and it’s not what they’re looking for.”
As the grade 12 student is currently deciding on where to go to college, he knows the impact this scholarship can make to his academic career.
“It’s awesome to be thought of at that standard.”
Watrych knows he wants to go into bio-chemistry or health sciences, but is weighing different options for universities at the moment, with McMaster, UBC and UofA being the top contenders.
Watrych was most recently given the youth Citizen Recognition Award by the city of Yorkton and was the quarterback of the Provincial Championship winning YRHS Raider Gridders.
