Five students from the College of New Caledonia and seven now attending the University of Northern B.C. have received a boost in their bank accounts.
They are among a group of 167 aboriginal students who have been granted scholarships from the Irving K. Barber B.C. Scholarship Society.
On the list of CNC scholarship recipients were Leanna Leon of Anahim Lake, Rylee Mikale Desmarais of Prince George, Alandra Kirschner of Abbotsford, Nicole Lodge of Fort St. James, and another undisclosed Prince George student.
The UNBC students selected were Martha Wilson of Hazelton, Larissa Hunsbedt of Lytton, Joshua McLeod of Masset, Susan Burke and Jennifer Pighin of Prince George, Hannah Bjorndal of Prince Rupert, and Vanessa Whiteknife of Skidegate.
They will receive scholarships ranging in value from $1,000 to $5,500. The total student scholarships amount to $459,000. Twenty-three of the student awards are from a new fund established this year to reward aboriginal students pursuing their teaching certificates. The other 144 awards went to students in programs that range from trades training to doctoral degrees.
Two UNBC instructors -- Beatrice Mitchell and Kelly Tizya -- were selected for aboriginal teacher education awards.
The Barber Foundation has six scholarship and awards programs and has awarded more than $4 million to post-secondary students in B.C. The aboriginal awards program is funded by returns on a $10 million endowment fund the province started in 2007 and a $3 million fund granted in 2012, part of the provincial government's strategy to remove barriers to higher education faced by aboriginal people.
