Ridge Meadows Education Foundation has received a $1 million endowment to establish a scholarship for graduating students of School District 42 (SD 42) pursuing science.
On Nov. 17, the Dr. Dave Rempel, the chair of the foundation, said the foundation had received a major contribution to establish the Gary and Nanette Lycan Scholarship Fund.
The endowment will provide one scholarship each year to a deserving Grade 12 graduating student from School District 42. The scholarship will cover the cost of tuition fees up to $6,000 per year, for up to eight years of the successful applicant’s education in the sciences or any program in which the sciences are the predominant requirement like nursing, medicine, computer science, etc., explained Mike Murray, a foundation board member.
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Lycan, who holds a degree in chemistry from the University of Alberta, initiated the scholarship to encourage educational excellence in the sciences and is hopeful the successful applicants will use their education to make significant contributions to the community in which they live and the world in general.
“Mr. Lycan’s desire that the scholarship go to students of the sciences is particularly appropriate these days as we have been seeing climate change, and the pandemic. Study of sciences is going to be very important in the coming years and this scholarship will allow the students to make strides in the many fields of sciences,” said Murray.
Lycan named the scholarship in honor of his late wife of 48 years, who was an equal partner in the success that has allowed him to make this kind of contribution. They moved to Maple Ridge in 1988 and worked together in the real estate business. She died in 2010.
School District 42 chair Korleen Carreras said the members of the board of education are grateful for this significant contribution to the Ridge Meadows Education Foundation and said the scholarship will provide a considerable incentive for students to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in the sciences.
Application details will be published in the school district’s scholarship and bursary booklet.
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