For McGill software engineering student Gracie Diabo, one of the biggest impacts of a Loran Award is the community that comes with winning the prestigious undergraduate scholarship.
“I knew what a great and awesome community Loran is, but once I started my first year, I realize it so much more,” says Diabo, who is from the Mohawk territory of Kahnawà:ke near Montreal.
This year, the Loran Scholars Foundation celebrates its 35th anniversary of awarding scholarships to young Canadians based on character, commitment to service and leadership potential. Offered in partnership with 25 universities, the Loran Award is valued at more than $100,000 over four years of undergraduate study. The scholarship includes experiential learning through summer work, annual retreats and mentorship.
McGill was an inaugural partner when the program began in 1989. As a partner, McGill covers the tuition of Loran scholars who come to the University.
To date, 136 McGill alumni have benefitted from a Loran Award during their studies at the University, including four who became Rhodes Scholars from Quebec: Diane Nalini de Kerckhove, BSc’95, François Tanguay-Renaud, BCL’02, LLB’02, Alexandra Conliffe, BEng’04, and Clare Lyle, BSc’18.
Diabo joined a community of Loran Scholars studying at McGill – there are 25 of them at the moment. When they get together, lively conversation ensues and the older students are not only supportive of each other, but they help the incoming scholars with their transition to the first year of university, according to Diabo. “Also, the people in my cohort that are all in different universities across Canada, we have a great group chat going and we're always supporting each other.”
Diabo took part in an orientation trip last summer in Ontario’s Algonquin Park for incoming scholars – a five-day canoe-camping adventure that she described as fun and “really challenging.”
As a CEGEP student, Diabo launched and led the Indigenous club at John Abbott College and served in student government. She remains active in campus life at McGill. She joined the student-run club POWE (“Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering”) and is an outreach coordinator, encouraging young women in high school and CEGEP to go into engineering. She’s also part of the McGill Rocket Team.
Diabo hopes to experience diverse types of jobs in the co-op placements that are part of her Software Engineering Co-op Program to get a better idea of what she wants to do.
“I always try to be a role model for the youth in Kahnawà:ke or our other native communities,” she says.
‘Pushed me out of my comfort zone’
Diane Nalini de Kerckhove received the scholarship when it was known by its former name: the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation National Awards.
Originally from Montreal, de Kerckhove honoured in Physics at McGill and lived in residence, which gave her a sense of independence – of being able to live on her own. She went on to become a Rhodes Scholar, earning her doctorate in material science using nuclear physics techniques. She doubts she would have had the emotional maturity to go to Oxford had Loran not “pushed me out of my comfort zone” and required that students live in residence their first year.
“Living at home I might have been daunted by the concept of then moving to a whole new country and living on campus at Oxford,” says de Kerckhove. “So, I think Loran was a great stepping stone.”
De Kerckhove juggled her undergraduate studies at McGill with singing gigs on weekends. It was a harbinger of her future dual career. A jazz singer and songwriter with five albums under her belt – she performs as Diane Nalini – de Kerckhove has her own quartet, teaches jazz ukelele and sings with the Ottawa Jazz Orchestra led by her husband and bassist Adrian Cho. They will be performing at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on April 20.
A physicist by training, de Kerckhove pivoted from academia over a decade ago and joined the federal public service. “I was really compelled by the idea of applying my scientific background to providing evidence-based policy advice,” says de Kerckhove, who now works in environmental policy at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
She has served as an assessor of Loran Award applicants and on the Rhodes Scholars selection committees for Quebec and Ontario applicants. “There’s the same kind of rigour and the same desire to look for unusual candidates and people who are going to really have an impact in the future and who have a dedication to service,” she says.
Supporting Loran Scholars during their McGill journey
As Director of Scholarships & Student Aid at McGill, Cara Piperni says she has the privilege of staying in touch with the University’s Loran Scholars as they pursue their degree. “As I witness their amazing contributions both on campus and within the larger community, it’s easy to appreciate their willingness and ability to push beyond their comfort zone to make a difference. Truly, they embody Loran’s principles: strength of character, dedication to service and leadership,” Piperni says.
Loran Scholars receive one-on-one mentoring for the duration of their undergraduate studies. Diabo’s mentor is a McGill alumna who works in the tech field.
Christopher Buddle, Associate Provost (Teaching and Academic Planning), is now in his third year of mentoring Loran Scholar Vincent Wong, who is in the honours neuroscience program. Initially, they met about once a month and now it’s akin to a check-in every two months. “I viewed it more as a mentorship that was very minimally about academics and much more about life,” says Buddle, who notes the Loran Scholars are extremely gifted academically.
Buddle says he let Wong dictate how he wanted the mentoring relationship to go because he was coming from Vancouver and didn't know anyone in Montreal. “I wanted him to feel most comfortable and for him to get the support that would work for him,” says Buddle, a former Dean of Students at McGill. “We established a pattern where we would meet for coffee or tea or lunch on a semi-regular basis.” They even made the trek up Mount Royal in the dead of winter a few times with cookies and a thermos of hot tea. “I always saw my role as a mentor to support the Loran Scholars in being good, well-rounded, holistically-well people,” he says.
Buddle considers the Loran Awards a special program. “I think the fact that they build mentorship into it is really important because the things you learn from others outside of the formality of education becomes vitally important to life and success.”
Visit the Loran Scholars Foundation for more information on the student award.