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Millennium
Update
What’s
up for year three?
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If
you’ve submitted all your post-graduate applications you
may be scratching your head wondering how you are going to pay
for it all? Costs continue to rise - making it harder to pull
in enough cash to cover all your costs. Scholarships can go a
long way towards covering a your expenses, but if you don’t
have stellar marks that may cut out many of these awards. Fortunately
there’s money to be had through awards that look at more
than just top marks - awards such as The Millennium Excellence
Awards.
This
year marks the third year for the excellence awards and it seems
to keep getting better. This year the program will give out a
total of 900 excellence awards to students entering their first
year of full time undergraduate studies: 100 National awards of
$4800, and 200 Provincial awards of $4000- both of which are renewable
for up to 4 years. In addition 600 Local awards will be given
out and while not renewable, can still float you a very respectable
$4000.
Seeing beyond the numbers
The
Millennium Excellence Awards basically take a more holistic approach
at defining “excellence” - looking beyond strictly marks.
As Franca Gucciardi, national co-ordinator of the Excellence Award
Program puts it: "The purpose of our program is to reward
excellence of all kinds.”
This
broad approach means looking for individuals who are well rounded
- different of course; from the well roundedness one develops
after consuming a year’s worth of residence food! These awards
are looking for students who have developed a balance in life
- in areas of community service, academic achievement, leadership,
and innovation. What it all means is that you may be eligible
for some great awards, even if you didn’t make the “A”
team.
How’s
your balance?
Your
balanced life may mean a balanced bank account. How do you stack
up in the following areas of your life?
Community
Service: A term that may conjure up images of feeding the
starving within our cities, or other tremendous acts of self-sacrifice
bordering on martyrdom. But community service is not measured
on the numbers you serve, or the hardship you have endured to
make the community a better place. The point is; how have you
given back to the community around you? It could mean assisting
at a senior’s residence, being active in a local service
club or even helping to organize a festival in your community.
It could be a one on one activity such as volunteer tutoring of
a student with a learning disability, or helping out a student
in a big brother or big sister type capacity.
Academic
Achievement: While a transcript that reads like yesterday’s
hockey scores isn’t likely to net you much here, your marks
don’t have to be stratospheric either. You do need to be
solid (after all, your marks also have to get you into college
or university).
Leadership:
You may not be student council president, or the head jock of
the football team, but that doesn’t mean you that you aren’t
a leader. While leadership can take the form of positions on executives,
councils or team titles, it can take subtler, but equally as important,
forms. Leading a troupe of Girl Guides or Boy Scouts, directing
a choir in your church, or leading a group to clean up a local
park or street are just a few possible examples. One of this years’
winners took on the initiative of forming a female wrestling team
since one had never before existed at her school.
Innovation:
It would be great if you were able to come up with a cure
for some life threatening disease but there’s limitless other
ways that you may have shown initiative. It could be a new or
better system, method, or product that you developed or co-developed
that benefits others. Perhaps it’s a way of getting street
youth involved in the community, or forming a theatrical group
to get a social message across. It could be developing a program
to promote a better understanding of other cultures, or of course
it could be truly revolutionary…like developing a better
election ballot for Florida’s voters - one that helps the
nation know who really won!
More
than a number
With
some applications you may imagine your form being fed into a machine
and spit out with an “accept” or “reject”
stamped on it, or someone scoring your application based on the
shear number of activities you crammed into your life, or the
tally of trophy’s and medals you’ve collected. The great
part about the Millennium Excellence awards is that applicants
receive multiple readings by a committee made up of diversified
members of your local community - meaning a fair chance for all
applicants.
Thankfully
these awards look beyond the measurable and quantifiable. What
were your motivations for what you’ve done? What is your
future direction? How have your life experiences translated into
positive action? And what type of goals and passions do you have?
While our society and even some demanding parents may place a
high priority on the doctor, lawyer, or MBA’s, the foundation
looks at applicants in all areas and pursuits; from artist to
social worker, fire fighter to researcher. Says Gucciardi “It
doesn't matter whether candidates plan to become doctors or carpenters,
lawyers or pilots, businesspeople or artists nor does it matter
whether they are students entering university
directly from high school or people with children of their own
who have decided to go back to school after a long absence. What
is important is that they are committed to improving their communities,
developing new ideas, and taking the initiative.”
So
what type of people won in the past? Here’s just a sample
of last year’s winners:
Jovanka Jovanovic, BC, Stelly’s Secondary School
At
age 12, Jovanka joined the Air Cadets with the goal of obtaining
a pilot’s license; she is now at Mount Royal College in the
aviation program. When Jovanka is on the ground she spends her
time as a jazz vocalist, member of the swimming team, and volunteer
at numerous community events. As a result of her endless hours
of work with the local Air Cadet group, Jovanka was awarded the
Top Cadet award and named deputy commander of her squadron. At
her school, she organized a Career Preparation project, directing
students in discussions regarding environmental and resource management.
She is fully bilingual and has recently completed her PADI scuba
certification.
Piragash Velummylum, Leaside High School, Toronto, ON
Piragash
is a conscientious member of his community who for years provided
free computer-training workshops to individuals lacking the necessary
technological skills at the Neighbourhood Link Employment Resource
Centre and at the Adult Learning Dis-Abilities Employment Resource
Centre. Guided by his passion for an inclusive education system,
he served as president of the metro-wide student council and as
a student trustee with the Toronto District School Board. Piragash
was also a member of the rugby and cross-country running teams,
edited the school newspaper, organized an environmental club,
and helped head the classics club. He is a scholar who speaks
Tamil, French, and English. Academically, what excites him the
most is "discovering groundbreaking ideas and solutions as
part of a dynamic and caring team," which he is now doing
at the University of Waterloo as he pursues his Computer Engineering
degree.
Gregory
Carrier, Archbishop MacDonald High School, Edmonton, AB
While
others might consider deafness a disadvantage, Gregory does not
let his disability impact negatively on his life and his expectations.
He has always attended mainstream schools, where he has excelled
academically. He has also taken on many responsibilities; during
high school, he organized a sign language club, participated in
a leadership group, and managed the volleyball team. Gregory also
works with other deaf people in his community. He serves as a
positive role model for a group of deaf children at Glenrose Rehabilitation
Hospital, and he talks to parents of deaf children to show them
that deaf children are capable of achieving as much as other children
- a point Gregory proves in all his endeavours. He is pursuing
a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Alberta.
For
more
profiles click here.
Filling
out these applications can be an uncomfortable task, as people
often have a humbleness that makes them cringe at the thought
of “trumpeting” their own skills and accomplishments.
But the applications’ structure allows the review committee
to get a glimpse of who the applicant is: through their honesty,
thoughts and sincerity which they convey in their application
- to see the genuinely strong candidate from the “resume
padder.”
This
year’s application is very similar to last year’s -
but there’s one change that you need to know: The application
deadline!…which this year is January 25th, 2002. - the day
that your application must be received by the foundation. So if
you think you have the stuff grab an application
and mark this down as a Christmas holiday project. You could be
one of 900 students lugging more than just books back to school
this fall!
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