Donors Dwight and Christine Powless create scholarship for Indigenous learners
Posted on Monday, June 19th, 2023
(L-R) Kerry Potts, Full-Time Professor, Indigenous Pedagogy Curriculum Consultant; Eric Johnston, Manager, Mamidosewin Centre; Dwight Powless; Mark Savenkoff, Vice President, Advancement and Strategy
A new scholarship for high-performing Indigenous learners will be presented for the first time at the Algonquin College Convocation Ceremony June 21 thanks to a generous community donation.
This scholarship, made possible by a $20,000 donation from Dwight and Christine Powless, will be awarded annually at convocations to the graduating Indigenous learner with the highest GPA. According to Dwight Powless, this donation will serve as both a reward for academic excellence and as an aid for the unique financial issues often faced by Indigenous learners.
“Regardless of what situation you’re in, whether you’re going there with a million dollars or [nothing], your performance should be recognized,” he said.
A former Algonquin College employee, Powless’ work saw him develop initiatives to improve the lives and experiences of Indigenous learners. His efforts gave him both an insight into and a concern for the challenges faced by learners who rely on funding from an Indigenous band or other Indigenous entity.
Powless has written several books — including the recently published A Path Forward, which discusses continuous improvement through an Indigenous lens. He plans to have any royalties received for his new book, titled Your Creativity Sprint:The Five-Week Challenge to Better Insights, to be added to the scholarship fund. An expected additional bequest will see the overall value of the scholarship come to around $100,000, a strong legacy for both Dwight and the late Christine, who passed away in December 2022.
“[Christine] was supportive of the work at Algonquin and she would get involved where she could…. She was always interested in how Indigenous students were doing and performing,” he said, adding that she was concerned that students did not have enough of a safety net during the transition between graduation and employment.
Powless said that he is looking forward to seeing the scholarship awarded, placing special emphasis on the importance of the successful learner receiving recognition in front of an audience at convocation.
“We need successful awareness, and this is a way of showing that Indigenous people are capable, they’re achievers, they’re the ones who will say ‘I want to do really well this year and get good marks because I might get that reward.’”
While the scholarship is currently only slated for the individual Indigenous learner with the highest overall GPA, Powless has hope that it could be awarded to more learners in the future, suggesting that he might like to see the top learner from Métis, First Nations and Inuit backgrounds each be rewarded, or perhaps the top Indigenous learner in each of the College’s different schools.
Dwight and Christine chose to make their donation because they saw Algonquin College as an institution that would honour their gift and use it to improve the experiences of Indigenous learners, giving the College a chance to reaffirm its commitment to Truth and Reconciliation.
“[The scholarship] is a good example, I think, for the College to show that they’re demonstrating their belief in wanting Indigenous students to be successful within their organization.”
Donate to the Dwight and Christine Powless Indigenous Achievement Scholarship
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