One Bancroft student could win an award to help her through University.
Melissa Elliot, a student at North Hastings High School, is one of the top candidates up for a Loran Award. The scholarship would give Elliot $100,000 over four years for undergraduate studies in Canada. Of the 5,089 candidates, Elliot is in the top 88.
Elliot is up for the award after she was nominated by North Hastings High School. “It’s crazy, it’s hard to believe,” Elliot says.
The top candidates were chosen based on evidence of character, commitment to service in the community and leadership potential. Elliot is currently the Co-Prime Minister of North Hastings High, she also sits on the Hastings-Prince Edward School Board as the Indigenous student trustee. She also volunteers at the Bancroft Skating Club. “I just genuinely enjoy being involved and being in a leadership role,” Elliot says.
Elliot had to go through a full day of interviews to become one of the top candidates. “It was really intimidating but super exciting,” Elliot says of the interview process. Elliot was one of 10 from the Belleville-Kingston area to go to the Semi-Finals. Over the course of a day, she went through two one-on-one interviews, an interview over lunch with another candidate then a four-person panel to finish it off. After that, she was the one chosen out of the 10 to go to Nationals. “All the other candidates that I got to meet were so amazing,” Elliot humbly adds. She says it was inspiring to meet them.
“I’m going to take some time to be excited and reflect on it,” Elliot says. She has until February 1st to reflect. That’s when the National Selections will be held in Toronto.
Elliot has already been accepted to the University of Ottawa for conflict studies and human rights. She’s applied to the University of Waterloo for legal studies as well as to McMaster University for justice and law philosophy.
While the $100,000 scholarship is the prize Elliot has her heart set on, she is eligible for a $5,000 finalist award.
The Loran Scholars Foundation will grant a further 34 Lordan Awards after National Selections. The Loran Award includes annual stipends, tuition waivers from a partner university, mentorship, summer-internship funding, as well as annual retreats and forums.