Paper Excellence, which has seven Canadian pulp and paper manufacturing facilities, including two on Vancouver Island at Port Alberni and Crofton, has partnered with Vancouver Island University to create a new scholarship to fund Indigenous students in trades programs.
The Paper Excellence Indigenous Success Fund, which started handing out awards earlier this year, will make available up to $2,000 each year to Indigenous trades students.
Paper Excellence has contributed $60,000 to the fund to be distributed over three years.
“It’s our pleasure to help make the experience at VIU just a little bit easier financially and want to wish the recipients of the fund all the best in their studies and future careers,” said Graham Kissack, the company’s vice-president of communications.
The scholarship will support students who are on the verge of not being able to continue their studies due to financial constraints, said Richard Horbachewski, executive director of the VIU Foundation.
“These scholarships offer support in a timely and effective manner, so students don’t have to put their dreams on pause when personal circumstances throw barriers in their path,” he said.
Paper Excellence has similar partnerships at College of the Rockies, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology.
