Laura Oingonn, a student at North Battleford Comprehensive High School, has been selected as a Loran Scholar.
She receives a Loran Award worth up to $80,000 over four years thatcomprises a summer program, week-long orientation expedition in a provincial park (run by Outward Bound Canada), mentorship and participation in a community of past and presentLoran Scholars.
The Loran Award is the largest undergraduate merit scholarship in Canada.
Laura was one of only 76 students from an initial pool of 3,700 applicants who were invited for two days ofnational interviews in Toronto Feb. 1 and 2. She is the first Loran Scholar from North Battleford.
Originally from Rankin Inlet, Laura moved to North Battleford to study the International Baccalaureate program at NBCHS. A member of Girl Guides for 8 years, she is a Lady Baden Powell Award recipient. Laura chairs her school's photography club, sings in the choir and is a member of the drama club. Along with her partner, she earned the NBCHS award as the most promising debate team in her school.
The Loran Scholar selection process is the most rigorous in the country, and involves multiple rounds of personal interviews at theregional and national level by volunteers from business, education and other fields. The awards are granted on the basis of character, service and leadership potential, not just academicperformance.Finalists who are not selected as one of the 30 Loran scholars receive a Loran finalist award, a $3,000 scholarship tenable at any publicCanadian university.
Regional interviewers for Saskatchewan include Peter MacKinnon, Nancy Hopkins, Doug Richardson and Wendy Roe.
The largest and most unconventional undergraduate merit scholarship in the country, the Loran Award is offered to up to 30 students each year on the basis of character, service and leadership potential, according to a press release.
The award is described as not being a reward for past achievements, but aninvestment in the future. Renewable for up to four years of undergraduate study at one of 25 partner universities, it comprisesa $9,000 annual stipend and a matching tuition waiver, a summer program with funding up to $8,500, a week-long orientation expedition in Algonquin Park in Ontario, one-on-one mentorship and participation in the community of Loranscholars, in total worth up to $80,000.
The foundation says staff work closely with Loran scholars during their university years to foster their development as leaders. Since thefirst Loran scholar graduated in 1994, there are now 347 past Loran scholars, 14 of whom have been selected as Rhodes scholars in the past 17 years.
Although half of Loran Scholars are under the age of 30, they are shouldering leadership responsibilities beyond their years. Theyinclude the director of the clinical teaching unit at McGill University Health Centre, the CEO of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, the CEO of Redknee, several clerks at the Supreme Court of Canada, entrepreneurs in dance,health, real estate,financial services and photography, several teachers and professors, an executive director at Goldman Sachs, twoeconomists at the World Bank, and the CFO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
