A Whitehorse high school student is one of a select few students from across Canada selected as a finalist by the Loran Scholars Foundation for its Loran Awards in 2024.
According to a notice from the foundation, Keegan Newnham-Boyd, an F.H. Collins Secondary School student, was one of the finalists selected from a pool of 5,200 applicants. Only 90 finalists were chosen.
Newnham-Boyd has served on the territory’s youth panel on climate change and is also one of the organizers behind the Fridays for Future climate protests. He was also among the young people who presented to the territory’s special committee on electoral reform seeking the lowering of the voting age from 18 to 16.
Loran’s website describes the award as Canada’s “largest and most comprehensive four-year undergraduate award to young Canadians on the basis of character, service and the promise of leadership.”
Per the notice, the award takes the form of a four-year “leadership enrichment program.” Some of the program features are summer work experiences, mentorship, an annual living stipend and a tuition waiver at one of the 25 universities Loran partners with. Most of Canada’s major universities are represented on the organization’s list of partners.
The scholarship has been awarded since 1988. According to Loran’s website, it was conceived to close what its founders saw as a gap in merit-based academic scholarships. While others focused on exceptional academic or athletic performance, the Loran Awards recognizes students who “show promise of the leadership and other talents that will make their communities better places both during and after their university careers.”
There is one more round of selection for the finalists before they find out if they’ve won. Loran’s national selection interviews are held in Toronto from Feb. 23 to 25.
“After national selections, we will grant up to 36 Loran Awards (valued at over $100K each). If not selected as Loran Scholars, the students will each be eligible to receive a $6,000 Loran Finalist Award.”
Contact Jim Elliot at jim.elliot@yukon-news.com