New bursary recognizes student excellence
The Education Students’ Council has created a new bursary that recognizes the top teacher candidate in the teacher education program.
The Faculty of Education Students’ Council Award for Student Excellence is awarded annually to a full-time undergraduate student graduating from any Bachelor of Education program at Western. The winner is chosen based on exceptional performance in course work and practice teaching.
Faculty and staff at the Faculty of Education select the recipient, and the bursary is worth $2,500.
“We wanted to recognize the hard work our students do in their classroom and with their partner boards during their practica,” incoming Education Students’ Council president, Zachary Bader-Shamai, said.
Bader-Shamai added COVID has created many challenges for the current class of teacher candidates at the Faculty of Education. In particular, they’ve demonstrated their resiliency as they’ve shifted multiple times between online and in-person studying and teaching while at the same time dealing with the stresses of the pandemic.
“We have a great cohort and this bursary is our way of recognizing their hard work during these challenging times,” Bader-Shamai said. “We hope students are excited about the bursary and we get a large pool of candidates applying for it.”
The previous students’ council voted to create the bursary, said Bader-Shamai, and it will be awarded for the first-time next year during the Faculty of Education Awards Ceremony in June. The event is held on the morning of the teacher candidates’ convocation.
