WINNIPEG, MB –Emerson’s eighteen year-old Tanner Giesbrecht managed to maintain a 96% average while attending the Roseau Valley School in Dominion City. That hard work paid off when he received a call from The University of Winnipeg awarding him the Garnet Kyle Scholarship which covers his tuition, rent, books, transit and more for the next four years.
Giesbrecht arrived at UWinnipeg this past September and is enrolled in sciences and math. He hopes to become a civil engineer. “It was a really big relief to receive this award. I had a really big smile on my face when the call came, and my parents were even more happy and proud.”
The Garnet Kyle Scholarship, worth up to $40,000 – is one of the largest offered to a Canadian student at UWinnipeg. It allows for $10,000 per year of studies to cover tuition and books, accommodation and food. It is unique in that it specifically supports a rural student from Dominion City and the surrounding area for undergraduate or graduate studies at UWinnipeg.
The University of Winnipeg created the Garnet Kyle Scholarship in March 2011 as a result of a very significant $500,000 donation from the estate of the late Mr. Garnet Kyle, which the University is matching through the provincial government’s Manitoba Scholarship Bursary Initiative, for a total of $1 million. It is achievement-based, awarded to a grade 12 student with an average of 90% or higher, or for graduate students to qualify, they must have an undergraduate grade point average of 4.00 or higher.
Giesbrecht says although he has spent his life living in a smaller rural setting, he is adjusting to campus life. “I like it at the University of Winnipeg because the class sizes are smaller and I am able to get to know people and my professors,” he says, “although living in the city makes you appreciate how quiet it is in the country!”
The late Garnet Kyle was a lifelong resident of Dominion City, longtime Councillor in the RM of Franklin, and school board trustee in the Boundary School Division. He was active in many community projects including construction, at his own expense, of a nine-hole golf course in Dominion City that is free to youth in the area.
“The Garnet Kyle Scholarship allows us to recognize the unique talent that comes from small Manitoba towns and close-knit communities,” said Dr. Annette Trimbee, President and Vice-Chancellor, UWinnipeg. “We offer our sincere congratulations to Tanner and the hard work that has gone into this significant achievement.”
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MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Poulin, Senior Communications Specialist, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
