A St. Albert graduate is going to university almost for free after winning $25,000 in scholarships.
St. Albert Catholic High grad Paige Shelemey received a Chancellor’s Entrance Citation award from the University of Alberta last month.
The award, worth $15,000, is one of the most prestigious entrance scholarships offered at the U of A. The award goes to 15 students each year who have a 95 per cent or better average throughout high school.
“I got a bunch of little ones,” Shelemey said of her scholarships, including the Cope Family Leadership scholarship and the Robert Tegler entrance award. She won five scholarships in all, totalling about $25,000.
While Shelemey said she was very happy about the awards and the recognition of her hard work, it also caused her some consternation, as she had received offers to attend many other prestigious universities.
“It made the decision hard.”
Shelemey is a former member of the St. Albert Catholic High student council, Interact Club (an offshoot of Rotary) and badminton team. She helped organize the school’s first wake-a-thon to raise funds for a community centre in Nicaragua and was valedictorian of her graduating class.
She also worked in a U of A research lab for two summers through the Heritage Youth Researcher Summer Program.
Her job there was to analyse cultures of nerve cells as part of a search for a cure for distal sensory polyneuropathy – a disorder that causes chronic foot pain in patients with diabetes or HIV.
“The nervous system is just so cool,” she said.
Shelemey said her scholarships should cover the cost of her undergraduate science degree and help her get into medical school, where she may study cardiology or neurology.
Shelemey credits her success to hard work and time management, and encouraged students to put in their best effort in school.
“If you work hard, you will receive awards.”
Paul Kane graduate Frank Wandler also received a Chancellor’s Citation last month, but could not be reached for comment.
A St. Albert Catholic school is celebrating this month after its entire Grade 12 class qualified for the provincial Rutherford scholarship.
All 38 members of the 2014 graduating class at Ă©cole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville qualified for the Alexander Rutherford high school achievement scholarship, reports principal Penny Baragar-Brcic. This does not mean they all got it, as it was still up to students to send in their applications.
This actually happens more often than not at the school, Baragar-Brcic said.
“Our students are fairly high achievers. They take their studies fairly seriously.”
Baragar-Brcic credits the school’s French immersion program for giving students an edge when it comes to academics.
The report also shows that 87 per cent of students at Morinville Community High School finished high school within three years – a new record for that school, said Catholic board superintendent David Keohane.
That puts the school more than 10 per cent above the provincial average, said principal Todd Eistetter.
“People are realizing how important education is and how our students need to do well.”
MCHS students meet regularly with teachers to make sure they’re on track to graduate, and can get subject-specific help during PACK days – open days where students set their own schedules and can take atypical classes such as salsa making. The school also lets students take dual-credit courses through NorQuest College that they can put toward university degrees.
St. Albert Public Schools will present their accountability report later this month, said Krimsen Sumners, the board’s associate superintendent of planning.
