The Southeast College recognized the efforts of many of its students in the Estevan area on Tuesday during the inaugural Industry-Education Awards Luncheon at the college’s Estevan campus.
Twenty-six scholarships and bursaries, worth a total of $39,950, were distributed to 19 students who are pursing studies locally. Scholarship recipients and sponsors were joined by college staff and board members for the event.
Bernie Bjorndalen, who is a member of the college’s board of governors, said the college has worked tirelessly to develop industry partners in the communities they serve.
“This has resulted in a number of positive opportunities for the college,” said Bjorndalen.
The Fueling the Future campaign, which matches donors with potential workforce graduates from the college’s programs, is an example of the efforts. Fueling the Future has generated $44,000 in new scholarships since its inception.
Another example is the Level 2 electrician apprenticeship program, which was pursued based on feedback from local industry. The college and its Saskatchewan Training Institute in Estevan became the first college in Saskatchewan, outside of the four big cities, to offer the Level 2 electrician course.
“I would say, on a personal level, that this is what we envisioned for the Saskatchewan Energy Training Institute,” said Bjorndalen.
Jeff Richards, the college’s vice-president of strategic development, noted the college will hand out more than $200,000 in scholarships at its campuses this year, and of that, $96,000 is in entrance scholarships and bursaries. They also awarded $44,000 through their Fueling the Future initiative.
Approximately $100,000 is through the Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunities Scholarship.
“That’s matching funding provided by the Ministry of Advanced Education, so what happens is when you give us a thousand bucks, we match that thousand bucks with the money that we get from the ministry,” said Richards. “All of those dollars go right into the pockets of our students.”
He noted there isn’t an administrative fee on the money that’s donated.
Students who received the awards applied online. A committee, chaired by Katie Burham, selected the recipients.
Southeast College Post-Secondary Saskatchewan Opportunity Scholarships were handed out to power engineering student Calder Clark, electrician student Ryan Fogarty and industrial mechanic student Nolan Franklin.
Continuing care assistant students Shannon Heska, Catherine Scherback, Robyn Smith and Marley Steinke received Boyle Belanger Saskatchewan Opportunity Scholarships. Smith also received the Quota International of Estevan Saskatchewan Opportunity Scholarship;
Enbridge Pipelines Fueling the Future Scholarships went to power engineering students Calder Clark and Mykola Zdolyny, and electrician students Christopher Cobb and Jody Seeman.
Viterra Fueling the Future Scholarships were handed out to four electrician students: Kerri Rieger for having the fourth-highest mark, Jody Seeman (third highest mark), Austin Sastaunik (second-highest mark) and Ryan Fogarty (top mark).
Industrial mechanic students Damien Boen, Josef Elton, Nolan Franklin, Connor Hassman, Daniel Reid and Justin Young were also presented with Fueling the Future scholarships from Viterra.
Other scholarships handed out were: electrician Kerri Rieger received the Fire Sky Energy Ronald Wanner Scholarship; power engineering student Lisa McGillis received the Weyburn Oilfield Technical Society Oilwomen's Pursuit of Oilfield Excellence Scholarship; and power engineering student Mykola Zdolyny received the Xerox Bursary.
