Three students from Parksville’s Ballenas Secondary have won a $5,000 Horatio Alger Canadian Scholarship.
The Parksville scholarship winners are Amber Deakin, MacKenna Jardine and Anika Bach. Grade 12 winner Jardine said hearing the news was a big relief and surprise.
“I was in shock when I won the scholarship because students from all across Canada apply, so I thought I had a small chance,” she said. “I have a single mom, so receiving this scholarship is a big help towards paying off my university tuition.”
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Jardine has applied to Vancouver Island University’s criminology program for the fall. She plans to earn her undergraduate degree there before going to law school at the University of Victoria. She said it was great to see her high school represented so well in the winners.
“It was also exciting to see that two other girls had won it as well, and that all of us are the first to win this award at Ballenas,” she said.
Horatio Alger scholarships are awarded annually to high school students in financial need who have overcome adversity, while also demonstrating character and other positive attributes.
“2020 marks a milestone for the Association. With these 170 new Horatio Alger Scholars, we will have awarded scholarships to over one thousand hard-working Canadian students since the program’s inception in 2012,” said Prem Watsa, the President of the Horatio Alger Association of Canada, in a press release. “On behalf of the Members of the Horatio Alger Association, I want to congratulate the class of 2020 on all they have achieved, and all they will continue to achieve as they seek a higher education.”