St. Stephen Student Receives $100K Scholarship

Rylan Cloney will have very little — if any — student debt when he completes the engineering program at Dalhousie University.

The Grade 12 student at St. Stephen High School recently learned he received a $100,000 Schulich Leadership Scholarship to attend the Nova Scotia university.

“It’s based off of good grades, leadership, financial need and also an entrepreneurship mindset,” said Cloney during a phone interview.

Students who are interested apply to their school, which nominates one graduating student. The nominee then submits an application, including an essay demonstrating why they should win.

Cloney said he still cannot believe he received the scholarship, which is awarded to only a few dozen students across the country each year.

He thought his luck has run out after learning the University of New Brunswick, which he also applied to, had already awarded their scholarships.

“I figured if I had a chance, it was going to be with UNB,” he said.

But that all changed when Cloney opened his email just over a week ago.

“I had gotten an entrance award from Dalhousie,” he said, “and I started reading through it and I was completely shocked because it said they were offering me the Schulich Scholarship and that it was $100,000 over four years.”

Cloney said both of his uncles are engineers so he was exposed to the field a lot while growing up.

“I like building things, I like taking things apart, I like seeing how things work, especially on the mechanical side,” he said.

Cloney has a message for high school students who may think it is not worth it to apply for as many scholarships as possible.

“Not only can it get you money to help you with debt, but it can also help prepare you for other things in the future,” he said.

“It prepares you for writing grants, for example, or doing other things for fundraising.”

Schulich Leadership Scholarships are awarded annually to 100 students enrolled in a science, technology, engineering or math program at one of 20 universities across Canada.