Indigenous young adults across the province have until the end of the month to apply for the 2024 Alberta Blue Cross® Indigenous scholarship program, which closes at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, January 31st.
“We’ve been privileged to support some incredibly deserving individuals in their education journeys through this program,” says Brian Geislinger, senior vice-president of Corporate Relations and Community Engagement with Alberta Blue Cross®.
One of those deserving individuals is Morgan Chalifoux, recipient of a 2023 Indigenous scholarship. Morgan is a student at Norquest College, a mother of four and a leader in her community. She chose to pursue an education in social work after spending 10 years working with some of Edmonton’s most vulnerable populations. Receiving one of Alberta Blue Cross’s® Indigenous scholarships helped her towards that goal.
“The scholarship meant the world to me. It made it possible, and it made it easier, to continue my studies,” says Morgan. “Students have so many different barriers, and it was just one less piece to the puzzle that I had to worry about.”
The Alberta Blue Cross® Indigenous scholarship program offers 9 scholarships of $1,500 every year. The scholarships are awarded based on personal goals, financial need and community involvement. Of the 9 scholarships, 3 are for students who have just finished high school and are in their first year of post-secondary education, and 6 are reserved for students classified as mature by their post-secondary institutions.
“In 2023 we received a record number of applications for our Indigenous scholarship program, and based on this demand we doubled the number of mature student awards provided annually through the program,” says Geislinger. “We are thrilled to be continuing this program for 2024.”
As part of Alberta Blue Cross’s® commitment to wellness, the long-standing Indigenous scholarship program is intended to support not only the financial wellness of students, but the overall wellness of the communities they give back to. At the same time, the program is intended to help advance equitable access to post-secondary education for Indigenous young adults. Alberta Blue Cross® has been running the Indigenous scholarship program since the year 2000, and in that time, more than 100 scholarships have been awarded to Indigenous students. Funding for the program comes from Alberta Blue Cross’s® community foundation.
The deadline to apply is January 31, 2024. Scholarship recipients are selected by an external committee with expertise in academia and Indigenous education. Successful applicants will be contacted in early March.
More information about the scholarship program, including application forms for Indigenous students, can be found at https://www.community.ab.bluecross.ca/programs/indigenous-scholarships.php.
For more information, please contact Sheena Moore, communication officer, Corporate Communications, Alberta Blue Cross®, at shmoore@ab.bluecross.ca.
This media release was shared as a news story on:
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