People Local student earns Beedie Luminaries scholarship

NaveenaVijayan

nvijayan@newwestrecord ca

NewWest resident and grad student Naomi Small wants to better the healthcare system in Canada a dream that now seems within reach, thanks to a provincewide scholarship.

Small was among the 116 Grade 12 students (from 67 high schools in 29 communities) to receive the annual Beedie Luminaries scholarship which awards each student up to $44,000 for their post-secondary education, besides access to mentors, student coaches, paid internships and more.

For Small, the award means not having to worry about any financial obstacles while taking the next small step towards her big dream: addressing the health-care worker shortage in the country

“One moment that I remember from my childhood is when I was at a pool, and I broke my finger because I was too scared to go off a diving board I slipped on the stairs and when I went to the hospital emergency room, it took me six hours to get an X-ray for a tiny fracture,” recalled Small

“I remember liking science so much then that I wanted to one day help people with it (in situations such as hers). I think little moments like that are what propelled me to want to make a change because there are people in the waiting rooms with worse injuries than what

I had, and I believe they need to receive the care they need,” she said. With the scholarship support, Small is now gearing up for the University of British Columbia to pursue “something related to biology”This will set the course for Small to practise her ideal profession one day in “cardio or anesthesia.”

Love For Science

Small, whose parents are teachers, has always had a love for science so much so that what she remembers playing with as a child are not toys but two microscopes that she got as gifts.

This love stayed with Small through her elementary school years at Blessed Sacrament School, and St. Francis of Assisi Elementary inVancouver, and even as she jumped from elementary to Little Flower Academy inVancouver where her favourite subjects included pre-calculus, calculus, physics, chemistry, biology and English

Small had her eyes set on a post-secondary education in science; which is why when she first heard of the Beedie Luminaries Scholarship for Grade 12 students on Instagram, she applied to it giving a detailed description of what she was passionate about, how she planned to contribute to the world, her strengths and weaknesses, financial situation and more a few weeks before the deadline in March

At the end of May, on an evening while returning from school, Small found out that she, in fact, got the scholarship.

For Small, the news was

“exciting” and “relieving” at the same time More importantly, it taught her to always believe in herself

Now, her sole advice to other students such as her is this: “Whenev- er you see an opportunity, do not doubt yourself Go for it, even if you think you won’t get it. Because if you get it, you will have the possibility to change the momentum of your future ”

“It’s very important to try in the first place,” she said.“Because that resembles courageousness in the face of adversity”

Learn more about the Beedie Luminaries Scholarship at beedieluminaries.ca.