Loran Scholars Foundation

Loran Scholars Foundation

Motto	Character, Service, Leadership
Formation	1988
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Official language	English, French
Executive Director	Franca Gucciardi (Loran Scholar '90)
Key people	Robert Cluett (Founder) Patrick Cronin (Chair)
Website	www.loranscholar.ca

Founded in Toronto in 1988, The Loran Scholars Foundation is a national charitable organization awarding scholarships for students entering university in Canada. Loran Scholars receive the country's largest independent undergraduate merit award on the basis of character, service and leadership.

Loran Scholars

The Loran Scholars Foundation selects 30 students each year for an undergraduate scholarship valued at up to $100,000.^[1] It has been active since 1990.

The scholarship is tenable at 25 public universities throughout Canada; however, the lower level awards (provincial awards and finalist awards) can be used at any public Canadian university or college. Eighteen Loran Scholars have gone on to win Rhodes Scholarships.^[2] It consists of annual stipends, a matching tuition waiver, summer internship funding, and mentoring over four years of study.

Candidate selection

The Loran Scholar selection process is rigorous. The selection process is as follows:

• Approximately 2,000 nominees come as sponsored candidates, with endorsements from their schools. Each secondary school can sponsor up to three students, and each CEGEP in Quebec can sponsor up to eight students. Evaluations are made by 30 Area Committees in 22 centres, from St. John's to Victoria, and then as many as 300 semifinalists, or approximately 10 candidates, are chosen for regional interviews. About 50-60 candidates are then invited to attend National Selections in Toronto.

• Approximately 1,800 candidates come through the Direct Pool (self-nomination). The 12-member National Assessment Panel sits during December and January and evaluates the application of each candidate, and telephone interviews are conducted with semi-finalists. Up to 20 candidates are then invited to attend National Selections in Toronto.

• 75 finalists are chosen from across Canada and flown to Toronto for National Selections.^[3]

• Up to 30 candidates are selected as Loran Scholars. In addition, up to 80 candidates are offered finalist ($3,000) and provincial ($2,000) awards.

Notable Alumni

Since the award was established in 1990, the foundation has selected more than 500 Loran Scholars. Past Loran Scholars include Lucas Skoczkowski ,^[4] founder and CEO of Redknee; Graham Fox ,^[5] president and CEO of the Institute for Research on Public Policy; Diane Nalini de Kerckhove,^[6] a jazz musician and physicist; youth engagement leader and social justice advocate Michelle Dagnino; CPR assist device inventor Corey Centen; François Tanguay-Renaud ,^[7] Director of York University's Jack & Mae Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security, and Associate Dean Research at Osgoode Hall Law School; Goldman Sachs managing director Lyle Schwartz; Thalmic Labs co-founder and CEO Stephen Lake; and Orpyx CEO Breanne Everett.^[8]

Awards

Several scholarships are awarded by the foundation.

• $100,000 Loran Awards. 30 available.

• $3,000 Loran Finalist Award, offered to all finalists who attend national selections but are not selected as Loran Scholars. 40 available.

• $2,000 Loran Provincial Award, offered by regional committees to outstanding semi-finalists who are not asked to attend national selections. 40 available.

• Honour Citation, granted to students who distinguish themselves at regional interviews but are not offered any monetary awards.

• Semi-Finalist Certificate, issued to students selected for a regional interview.

Criteria

Loran Scholars are selected on the basis of character, service and leadership potential.

Financial value

Each Loran Scholar receives a scholarship valued at up to $100,000 over four years (assuming annual renewal during university). The scholarship has three main financial components:

• The Loran Scholars Foundation offers an $9,000 living stipend per annum.
• The partner institution at which the scholar chooses to study grants a tuition waiver up to $9,000 per annum.
• Scholars are awarded up to $8,500 for three summer internships.

Loran Scholars may study at the following universities in Canada:

Atlantic Canada: Dalhousie University, Memorial University, Mount Allison University, Université de Moncton, University of King's College, University of New Brunswick.

Québec: McGill University, Université Laval, Université de Montréal.

Ontario: McMaster University, Ryerson University, Queen's University, University of Guelph, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Western University, York University.

Prairies: University of Alberta, University of Calgary, University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan.

British Columbia: Simon Fraser University, University of British Columbia, University of Victoria.

Experiential value

A unique aspect of the Loran Award is the mentorship program, where each Loran Scholar is paired with a mentor who is a business or community leader. Current and former mentors include ACE Bakery founder Martin Connell, OC, O.Ont; Canadian senator Hon. Landon Pearson; social entrepreneur Scott Gilmore; Second Cup co-founder Frank O'Dea; Dr. Alice Chan-Yip, C.M. of the Montreal Children's Hospital; TV host Lindsay Cameron Wilson; and McMaster professor Dr. Gary Warner.

Furthermore, the Loran Scholars Foundation offers funding (up to $8,500) for three summer internships:

• Enterprise Summer
• Personal and Community Development Summer
• Public Policy Summer

Summer employers have included the World Health Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNIDROIT, BMO Capital Markets, KPMG, Shannex, the Canadian Urban Institute, Frontier College, the Government of Ontario, the Government of Nunavut, Samaritan's Purse and several alumni-founded companies such as Redknee and Canopy Labs.^[9]

W. Garfield Weston Award

The Loran Scholars Foundation previously administered the W. Garfield Weston Award for outstanding college-bound students in Canada. Established in 1999 with the support of the W. Garfield Weston Foundation, it awarded up to 25 scholarships to entering college students, and up to 25 scholarships to upper-year college students. The foundation selected its final class of W. Garfield Weston Scholars in 2012.^[10]

See also

• Morehead Scholarship (oldest merit-based undergraduate scholarship in the United States)
• Canada Millennium Scholarship (Canadian equivalent of US National Merit Scholarship program, awarded to ~2000 students every year, now defunct)

References

External links

• Loran Scholars Foundation
• Garfield Weston Awards program