For local student Kaleena Johnston, it might feel like her lucky day, but luck had nothing to do with her $7,500 scholarship award.
Johnston received the Peter Wright Award from the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation (CST) in recognition of her academic excellence and community participation, and will apply the windfall to her tuition for graduate studies in kinesiology at University of Calgary.
“Finding out that I’d won the...award was the best feeling,” said Johnston. “This past year at school was extremely demanding. It felt like all my hard work had led up to that moment and that it was really paying off. Receiving this award really underscored that my hard work with school and giving back to the community was worth it and it has motivated me to continue to work hard and pursue what I’m passionate about.”
Johnston has excelled at every stage of her schooling, including at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where she made the dean’s list throughout her undergraduate degree in human kinetics and biomechanics. She made headlines in track and field, volleyball and soccer during her years at Brooks Secondary School and graduated in 2008.
She is the treasurer for her local Habitat for Humanity program and in 2011 travelled with Habitat to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to help build two new houses for victims of Hurricane Katrina. She also works with children, coordinating leadership events for youth ages 12 to 18 from three first nation communities. She is working toward her goal of becoming a medical doctor, possibly in sports medicine.
“The more education Canadians have, on average, the more they earn, the more they vote and the more they volunteer and participate in their communities,” said Sherry MacDonald, CEO of CST. “We’re honoured that Kaleena’s family chose CST to provide her registered education savings plan and proud to recognize her with this scholarship toward her graduate studies. Kaleena has accomplished so much already and has a very bright future ahead of her.”
CST is a non-profit organization which has been helping families save for post-secondary education for over 50 years. It offers its own awards for academic achievement and community engagement to those students in its group plans who are pursuing graduate studies. Johnston’s scholarship is one of 12 awarded by CST to students across Canada this year. Since the awards were founded in 1984, 247 students have shared nearly $1.5 million in scholarship money to apply to their graduate education.
“I can’t imagine where I’d be right now without [the foundation],” said Johnston. “I am so grateful to my parents for investing in a registered education savings plan, because I’m debt-free right now and I know many students in my situation aren’t fortunate enough to be able to say the same.”
