Pursuing an education in the diverse field of engineering and geoscience has been made easier for a group of 11 Northern students who have been awarded scholarships from the NAPEG Education Foundation — a foundation supported by the public and members of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists (NAPEG).
Paul Guy, the president of NAPEG, said the financial boost will help ease the financial burden of obtaining the required education.
“We recognize that it costs more to go to school down south. When you’re from the North, you can’t live at home, you have to travel more, you have to pay rent and you’re away from your family,” Guy said of the extra expenses involved.
“It’s to help offset the costs and make it easier to focus on your studying, so you don’t necessarily maybe have to take a second job, or, you know, be worried about your finances, so it’s a small contribution.”
Meaningful options
Guy said engineers and geoscientists have a diverse range of opportunities when it comes to choosing a career path in the North.
“For example, working in the North, you’re working on interesting projects. You could be developing a water treatment plant in a small community, so you can see the results of your efforts by making improvements for the broader population and improving the quality of life for people and the safety of their water,” he said.
Another career option could be working in the mining industry, he noted.
“You can be working at the ground level and in exploration for a [project] that eventually results in a mine that contributes to the economy and some sort of tangible output.
“So I think a lot of people are drawn to this field because they can do something where they can see that they’ve made a difference and contributed to improving the environment.
“The North has so many opportunities here, and you can really come in early in your career and have a meaningful impact, whereas down south, that might take longer to get to that stage where you can become more involved in more complex projects. So there’s lots of interesting things to do here that you get engaged in early on.”
Geology research
One student, Jade Lockie, is the graduate scholarship recipient this year. She is a PhD candidate in earth and environmental sciences.
She was working in association with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey to conduct her doctoral research on the geology of the NWT.
Lockie said she is thankful for the support.
“As a Yellowknife resident completing my PhD at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, I am proud to be conducting geoscience research within the Northwest Territories. This scholarship helps offset the cost of tuition and travel costs associated with travelling to the university,” she stated in an email.
Guy said almost half the scholarship recipients this year were women, which he attributed to the Canadian-wide initiative called 30 by 30, which is an industry goal for 30 per cent of the workforce in the field to be women by 2030.
The remaining scholarship recipients, all from the NWT, are:
-Cassie Rogers, University of Waterloo, environmental engineering
-Elaine Cronk, University of Alberta, engineering
-Ethan Aumond, University of Waterloo, nanotechnology engineering
-Gordon Kwong, University of British Columbia, engineering
-Ian Gau, University of Alberta, engineering
-Isabella Karl, University of Alberta, civil engineering
-Joseph Curran, University of Calgary, engineering
-Kabbamoy Paul, University of Alberta, engineering
-Roald Peters, University of British Columbia, applied sciences
-Stella Wong, University of British Columbia, civil engineering
Guy said the hope is that the scholarships will help by keeping students interested in engineering in the North so they will return to work after graduation.
“Because we want to have a strong, vibrant, professional community here, and it’s important, we think, to have that.”
Since the education foundation was established in 2006, it has granted nearly $300,000 to 130 Northern students.
NAPEG has a membership of 275.
