An aspiring veterinarian from just outside Spirit River will get a little extra help paying for school. 18-year-old Shelby DeSmet of Fourth Creek is one of 10 recipients of this year’s 4-H Alberta Elmer and Ona Hansen Memorial Fund Scholarship for $10,000. She says she still can’t believe she won.
“I didn’t think that I would get it; you know there are so many other people who are just as or more qualified than I am both academically and for the other criteria of the scholarship. When I found out I won I actually had to ask twice, ‘are you serious?'”
The scholarship is open to all young people in rural Alberta who are enrolled as a first-year student at an accredited college or university. The scholarship is designed to help youth who have to leave home to pursue a post-secondary education or a trade.
DeSmet is currently a student at the University of Saskatchewan and says she plans to use the money to help pay the tuition for the courses she needs before applying for the veterinarian course.
“You need a pre-degree before you can actually apply so this money will be going towards my pre-degree which originally was a Batchelor of Science in Animal Bio-Science. With that, if I remember correctly [it’s] $6,000 to $7,000 a year so that will be going towards that.”
She adds that the money will come in handy when it comes to the next six to eight years of schooling she says she has ahead of her.