Ten Fanshawe College students have been awarded life-changing skilled trades scholarships. The scholarships are among Canada’s largest skilled trades scholarships, coming from a program created by the Schulich Foundation.

The aim is to combat labour shortages and highlight the importance of skilled trades in Canada.

“We are proud to promote the skilled trades and support students pursuing this rewarding career path,” said Judy Schulich, director of the Schulich Foundation. “Canadians rely on the trades to build and maintain infrastructure critical for prosperous communities. Our challenge today is not having enough of these talented people to meet the demand.”

The program began just last year and has already invested $3 million into granting these scholarships. More than 1,000 students are nominated out of a pool of 350,000 candidates.

“My guidance counsellor nominated me for it and then I have to get two references for it and then you apply for it,” shared Carter Vaughan-Warford, one of Fanshawe’s Schulich scholarship recipients.

The program gifted Fanshawe $325,000, allowing the college to provide another six students scholarships.

“We are grateful to the Schulich Foundation for their ongoing support in helping us unlock the potential of these talented students pursuing careers in the skilled trades,” said Stephen Patterson, dean of Fanshawe’s Faculty of Science, Trades and Technology.

These scholarships range anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 and go towards helping students cover costs of tools, living accommodations, and tuition.

“It means a lot. It makes me not have to worry about working a lot to make the money. ‘Cause I’m also living in residence, so it’s a lot more on top of that also,” said Vaughan-Warford.

He added that his experience so far at Fanshawe has been “amazing.”

“It’s very different from what I imagined it to be. It’s going to be very, very hard, but it’s a really good community here.”

Seymour Schulich created and funded the Schulich Foundation. Schulich holds Canada’s highest civilian award, the Order of Canada, and is among Canada’s greatest philanthropists.

Having benefited greatly from a scholarship that enabled him to do his MBA, Schulich has built a well-earned reputation as a champion for education and access to education in Canada and around the world.

The foundation has invested in faculties of all sorts including business, engineering, law, medicine, education, music, chemistry, dentistry, nursing and more. Over 7,000 scholarships are awarded annually to students in Schulich schools.