For the second year in a row, a Lambton County student has been awarded a $100,000 scholarship to pursue post-secondary education in engineering.
Grade 12 Petrolia LCCVI student Peter Matthews has won a Schulich Leader Scholarship to study at Queens University in Kingston this fall.
He says his initial reaction was disbelief.
"When I got the email, I was like... 'Mom! Come look at this!' I couldn't believe it," says Matthews. "I almost thought... Have they sent the email to the wrong person? But, it had my name. I was really excited."
Matthews thinks volunteering in the community and his involvement in the school help set him apart from other applicants.
"I've been on student council for three years and this past year I was the co-prime minister," he says. "I've also been the co-president of the drama club since Grade 10."
Matthews is also involved in the First Petrolia Beaver Scouts, the Lambton Anglican Refugee Committee.
While the first year at Queens is general studies, he's already thinking about specializing in electrical engineering.
"I'm fascinated by electric cars," he says. "They definitely seem to be the way of the future. We're moving away from gasoline and more toward electric cars. So, that's an industry that I'm interested in."
Matthews is the second nominee to win in the Lambton Kent District School Board after Sarnia Great Lakes Secondary School student Joy Shah received the prestigious scholarship last year.
Schulich Leader Scholarships are entrance scholarships awarded to high school graduates entering in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics undergraduate program at participating universities in Canada and Israel.
The $100-million scholarship fund was established in 2012 by Seymour Schulich to encourage Canada's best and brightest students to become our next pioneers of global scientific research and innovation.
The program awards 100 scholarships, valued at more than $7-million, each year.