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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWNIFE
Two Yellowknife students each received $4,000 from a scholarship program designed to entice them to return to the North to work after graduation.

Karina Mercredi studies Indigenous Business Leadership at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia. - photo courtesy of NorthwesTel

NorthwesTel awarded $24,000 to six students from the NWT, Nunavut and the Yukon through its Northern Futures Scholarship program. Also included in the scholarship is a priority internship, where recipients are given priority for summer employment with NorthwesTel.

The hope is to encourage Northerners pursuing post-secondary education to return to the Northern workforce.

"They are well educated. To qualify for the scholarship you need to be a high academic achiever, a community participant, a leader, all that," said Emily Younker, manager of corporate communications at NorthwesTel. "But not only that, they come from the communities we serve. They understand the North and we start to build that relationship with them very early on so it works out well to hire them as employees.

"Essentially, if we have a skilled Northern workforce that's great for us. It's great for the North but it's also great for us."

Two of the six recipients were Yellowknifers Karina Mercredi and Daniel Guerrero.

Mercredi is currently pursing studies in indigenous business leadership at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia.

"Every little bit helps. It has meant that it has given me the flexibility to focus more on my studies without added worries," stated Mercredi in an e-mail to Yellowknifer. "Being selected as a recipient gave me a boost of confidence that I've made the right decision to pursue my education."

Mercredi currently works as a senior business analyst with the North Slave's regional Community Futures Organization and plans to continue work in economic and business development for people in the North.

She added that while she doesn't quite miss the weather, she does intend to return to the North and to family and friends in Yellowknife.

This will be the second time Guerrero has received the scholarship while pursuing studies in electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia.

Guerrero has volunteered at the Arctic Winter Games, as a Super Soccer coach and has made the dean's honour list two years in a row.

"We're investing in an educated workforce in the North," said Younker. "We want to help get these students educated because they in turn make the best employees for NorthwesTel."

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