I Got My Community a Greenhouse and Won a $70,000 Scholarship

Age: 18
School: Laurentian University
Program: Mining engineering
Scholarship amount: $70,000

I come from a really small town—King’s Point, in Newfoundland. My parents and grandparents instilled in me the importance of growing your own food, and we grew vegetables together as a family. During COVID, I saw how difficult it was for seniors to get out and buy groceries. So, with my mom’s help, I planted extra vegetables and donated them to older people in our community. 

Around the same time, I came across a grant from the Food Producers Forum, a food security non-profit, to get an earth-sheltered greenhouse. It’s like a root cellar combined with a standard greenhouse, so it stays cool in the summer and warmer in the winter. I won the grant, then got the town’s permission to build the greenhouse on a piece of land in our community. I hope the greenhouse, which is still under construction, will provide people who don’t have the space at home with an opportunity to grow their own food. I’ve also done a lot of work with kids, like organizing leadership events at my high school and coaching hockey and intramural sports.

 I started researching scholarships in the fall of my Grade 12 year. I knew that I wanted to study engineering and that I’d probably do it in Ontario, because it’s where the most highly ranked programs are. It would be expensive. I spent a couple of months working on the applications. You really have to show your personality and what you’re striving for in very few words. My mom and other family members helped me clarify my thoughts. 

In early 2024, I found out I made it to the interview stage for the TD Scholarships for Community Leadership. The interview was done via Zoom. I didn’t prepare too much in advance because I wanted to show who I really was instead of rehearsing the person I thought they wanted me to be. The interviewers asked me questions about my life, where I’m from, what sustainability means to me and what I’m passionate about. I found out a month later, at the end of March, that I got the scholarship. I was at a hockey tournament and had just gotten off the ice when I received the call. I laughed and cried at the same time. My team had just won bronze at the tournament. I was so hyped. 

I also received a few other scholarships—the Canada Bridge, which is valued at $3,000, and a few $500 scholarships and bursaries from my school. 

My course load at Laurentian is really heavy, but I hope to get back into coaching kids’ hockey or doing volunteer work with a soup kitchen or a food bank once I’ve gotten used to my routine at school.