Madeleine Pawlowski says a trip to Ethiopia last summer with the Change Your World Leadership Tour allowed her to see poverty first-hand and to better understand the role international development agencies can play in the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people.
“It really gave me a better idea of what international development really means and kind of helped me … to see poverty first-hand and to get that whole connection besides just doing a bunch of fundraisers here in Alberta but not really knowing what it looks like,” said Pawlowski, a Grade 12 student at Ă©cole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville’s (ESSMY).
“I met so many amazing people, so many talented individuals my age but the only difference between me and them was opportunity,” Pawlowski said.
Her volunteer work in Africa last summer is one of many ways she’s involved in charitable initiatives, both at ESSMY and in her community. It’s also one of the reasons she was named a recipient of the prestigious Loran Award, a four-year, fully paid scholarship to the university of her choice.
As part of the award, recipients take part in a mentoring and summer program and are paired with a mentor who challenges and encourages scholars. Scholars are also eligible for up to $7,500 in grants for scholar-initiated summer experiences to broaden and enrich their academic studies.
Currently deciding between Montreal’s McGill University, the University of British Columbia and the University of Ottawa, Pawlowski has some difficult decisions ahead of her although she said she’ll likely major in human rights and conflict studies or international development.
Loran Award recipients must maintain an 85 per cent average and must demonstrate character, service and leadership, breadth in academic and extracurricular interests, strongly developed inner-directedness and a high level of personal autonomy.
In addition to being school council president, Pawlowski is also involved in the social justice, sports liaison and media relations committees at school.
She volunteers with the Canadian Red Cross and is currently organizing the Global Youth Symposium, which encourages youth to get involved in global issues.
She’s also the drive behind a 1980s dance-a-thon at ESSMY taking place in April.
“For our school community, the awarding of the prestigious Loran Award reaffirms our strong academic standing, along with our passion for service, as exemplified by our school’s namesake, Sainte Marguerite d’Youville,” said principal Penny Baragar-Brcic.
“We are all very proud of Madelaine’s commitment to her own learning. It would be erroneous not to thank her parents and all of the individuals at ESSMY who have helped Madeleine grow into becoming the good person she is today.”
Pawlowski began applying for the award last fall, first by submitting several essays about herself and her leadership work. A semi-final interview in December was followed up by a final interview in Toronto earlier this month.
In the interviews, representatives from the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation, the organization behind the Loran Award, wanted to see that Pawlowski was a good fit for the award.
“It was really relaxed. They really just want to get an idea of who you are,” she said.
On Feb. 6, one day after returning home from Toronto, Pawlowski stayed close to the phone knowing the organization was going to be making its final selection that day.
“I waited by the phone for about seven hours,” she said, adding that it wasn’t until the evening that she received the phone call she had been waiting for.
“There was a lot of jumping up and down and screaming and crying.”
Pawlowski said she has many role models but is quick to name Laura Keegan, an Edmonton-based humanitarian issues program co-ordinator at the Canadian Red Cross as one of them.
While working in Papua New Guinea several years ago, where she was doing HIV/AIDS work, Keegan was taken hostage by men in war paint carrying machetes but was later released.
“She will basically stand up for what she believes in no matter what, even if it puts her life on the line,” said Pawlowski.
“The things she’s done just inspire me.”
Asked where she sees herself in 10 years, Pawlowski said she hopes to have completed graduate school.
“Life tends to happen in an interesting way, you can’t exactly plan for everything,” she noted.
“Hopefully I’ll be a lawyer at that point and be looking into politics or working at the United Nations in some role.”
