M’CHIGEENG—Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) student Dylan Kuntsi is one of only two students selected for a scholarship through the Canada-wide SHAD program and will be taking part in the once-in-a-lifetime program experience this summer. The SHAD enrichment program is named after Shad Creek in southern Ontario, which is close to the school where the program originated in 1981. The SHAD offices are now based in Waterloo, Ontario.
“I think it will be a really fun experience,” Dylan told The Expositor. He pointed out that although he had been notified earlier that he was to receive a scholarship through SHAD, during the provincial FIRST Robotics competition with his MSS Manitoulin Metal team held in Mississauga earlier this month, “they called me down to the stage to make the announcement, with everyone watching in person and on the big screen.”
“I had applied for the SHAD scholarship and program a few months ago and was notified in January that I was one of only two students Canada-wide to win a $7,200 scholarship, which is pretty awesome,” said Dylan.
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Dylan, who is 15 years old and in Grade 10 at MSS explained, “to apply you have to answer a whole bunch of questions that they send you (including a couple of essays), and tell (SHAD) about yourself, your experiences and extra-curricular activities you take part in.” He also had two MSS teachers provide references and had to provide information as to what his grade point average is in school (it’s an impressive 93 percent).
SHAD Canada is an annual Canadian summer enrichment program for high achieving high school students, held in July. The program is open to both Canadian and international students, and the program is offered at about 19 participating universities across Canada.
Dylan was accepted into the prestigious SHAD program that will take place in July this summer, and received the full scholarship for this program. SHAD is a 27-day long program for Grade 10 and 11 students. Selected students participate in university level STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics). There is also entrepreneur content and participants have access to mentors. Students get to attend one university for 27 days, attend lectures, do labs, work with professors, and participate in group projects, a website explains.
“We equip youth to take on social and economic challenges with a STEAM lens. Each campus tackles the same real-world problems and designated design teams with assigned mentors develop STEAM-based solutions, pitches and presentations to panels. This is an entrepreneurial experience with a social impact and one of the most loved aspects of our program,” the SHAD website states.
“I will be participating in the (SHAD) program at the University of Western Ontario for the entire month of July,” said Dylan. “There will be a whole bunch of different STEAM workshops, classes and activities, a little bit of everything.”
As for a future career, Dylan said, “I am focusing on chemical engineering or chemistry. Definitely something involving chemistry.”
Dylan will be among 1,500 students taking part in the SHAD program this summer, and at each university that is hosting the program, between 50-60 students will be participating.
“My sister Jocelyn (also a former MSS student) got the same SHAD scholarship when she took part in SHAD in 2022,” said Dylan.
