A grade 12 student in Kamloops has been selected as a 2023 Loran Scholarship Finalist.
The Loran Award is four-year leadership and mentorship program, valued at $100,000, which goes to 36 students across Canada who demonstrate a drive to step up in the face of challenges and positively impact their communities.
Out of a pool of nearly 4,800 applicants, Graeme Hanks from South Kamloops Secondary School says it is an honour to be one of 90 graduating students selected across Canada going to the final round of interviews in Toronto from February 24 – 26.
“It’s a really amazing opportunity that I’ve been presented with, and I just want to make the most of it. I’m really looking forward to meeting all these amazing individuals and having an amazing experience and Toronto.”
Hanks is the co-president of the Environmental Club and the co-founder of his high school chamber choir, which has become quite successful amongst those around him.
“It’s definitely difficult whenever you start something new, but I had a really supportive music teacher and so together we could encourage people who are already in the music program and who enjoyed singing and so kind of cultivate a community like that. From there, they told their friends and it was kind of a domino effect.”
Additionally, Hanks is also a volunteer judo instructor who helped restart the junior program at his club.
He explains that judo is a sport he has been involved in since he was young, and says it’s something he wanted young kids to also benefit from.
“Starting from a young age, I recognize the benefits and the great skills that Judo teaches young kids. I wanted to give back to my sport and help teach kids skills that I learned from that experience because they have not only been effective in judo, but I have been able to apply them in all aspects of my life and that’s been really beneficial and has helped me.”
On top of that, Hanks is an elected member of the Principal’s Council, which is a group of students selected to be the voice of the students amongst their high school principal and administration.
“Since we go to school and we’re surrounded by our peers, we continuously get feedback and opinions from students on maybe what we can improve or things we could change,” he explained.
“We then take that information and bring it back to him (our principal) and together we problem solve and develop an effective solution to implement.”
Asked Hanks how he balances school on top of his extracurriculars, he credits it to effective time management, a skill he plans to use in university.
“Starting all these activities early in life, I’ve really gotten good at organizing my time and my day so that when I have free time, I can effectively use it,” he explained.
“It has been a learning curve, but it’s been a really good experience and I think this will help me going into university because it is quite hectic and quite busy, but having developed these effective time management skills, I think I’ll be able to apply them in university.”
The Loran Award is a four-year leadership enrichment program consisting of summer work experiences, mentorship, scholar gatherings, an annual living stipend, and a tuition waiver at one of 25 university partners. If not selected as Loran Scholars, the students will each be eligible to receive a $5,000 Loran Finalist Award.
