Two Aurora College students were chosen as 2019-20 scholarship winners by the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies. ACUNS offers up to 18 scholarships and awards annually to Canadian post-secondary students to support northern research in all disciplines.
Joni Tsatchia and Karen Lepine, both from the Bachelor of Education program, are two of ten recipients from the NWT and Yukon. The research for which they received their awards is entitled “Deh Gah Gotine”. It focuses on a celebration of Northern Indigenous heritage. Both Tsatchia and Lepine looked to their own cultural upbringing for inspiration to conduct community research into culture and identity.
“These women represent the future educators of the North. The scholarships are well deserved, and will allow and support their further studies,” stated Program Head of Aurora College’s Bachelor of Education program, Valentina de Krom.
The ten NWT and Yukon resident winners represent the highest percentage of Northern recipients of the ACUNS awards in the program’s 37-year history. ACUNS is a national, non-profit academic association. Since 1982, it has supported students, educators, researchers and scientists in collaborative and ethical research, knowledge-sharing and education.
According to an ACUNS news release the high number of Northern resident winners further states a positive indication of the successful academic programs at Canada’s post-secondary institutions and southern post-secondary institutions that have partnerships in the north.
“The awards support college and university students who demonstrate academic excellence, leadership and commitment to northern science, and whose research projects contribute to the understanding of the North through the facilitation of collaborative research, knowledge mobilization, and education.”
