Thank you to everyone who applied for our 1st Annual Matthewson & Co. Bursaries. Winners have been notified and posted on our Facebook page. Have a great academic year, everyone!

Article by Kaitlyn Meisner

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Matthewson & Co., formally known as the Sustainability Project, has launched an annual program of bursaries in order to help people in small communities start a new chapter in their lives.

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In total, there were three $500 bursaries offered to individuals in communities with a population of 5,000 or less in Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.

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The first bursary would go to someone who was graduating high school and planned to enter post-secondary education. The second would go to a “non-traditional” student—someone who had graduated high school a while ago and wished to return to or begin post-secondary education. Lastly, the third one would go to someone who was graduating high school and wanted to start their own business.

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All the applicants were required to write an essay that gave details like the person’s career aspirations, but mainly, the essay was supposed to focus on community and volunteer experience. This was in keeping with Matthewson and Co.’s ideals about building community. They weren’t supposed to be scholarships focused on academics, but rather, the individual’s involvement and service in their community.

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Anna Beaulieu, who helped create the bursary application requirements and screened the various applicants, explained that the bursaries were in line with everything that the company stands for.

“At Matthewson and Company it’s our…mission to build community, so we believe that giving back to the communities…is important.”

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Matthewson & Co. is a business based in Carlyle which is focused on helping small communities thrive. It was started by Lorri Matthewson in order to fill a gap that was present in supporting small communities. Most of the time, communities have great potential, but aren’t able to easily access the resources they needed to succeed.

Therefore, Matthewson & Co. aims to provide support for small communities through various practical services such as asset management, strategic planning, grant writing, and community economic development planning. Basically, they do the things a community economic development officer would do and help small population communities reach their full potential through proper planning and expertise.

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In congruence with this vision, Matthewson & Co. decided they would give back to small communities by creating the bursaries which would help individuals in pursuing their careers. Lorri Matthewson, who had the idea of doing the bursaries, explained one of her main motivations for offering the bursaries was that she felt they should really sow back into the community.

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“We’ve had a lot of really positive success in the last … several years … we’ve been really, really busy—crazy busy—and we have been for a while, so for us it was a way of giving back what we could.”

Unfortunately, no one applied for the bursary for a high school student aiming to start a business, but Matthewson & Co. plans on doubling this bursary next year in order to hopefully get more applicants. For the other bursaries, the winners will be announced on July 15.

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Matthewson & Co. creates new bursaries in order to give back to small communities | Carlyle Observer

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2021 Matthewson & Co. Bursary Recipients

Pictured left is Jennifer Dann, winner of our first annual "Matthewson & Co. Non-Traditional Student Bursary" award. Jennifer is originally from the Cowessess First Nation and is currently studying at the College of Law at U of S with the goal of becoming a lawyer, practicing employment and labour law, human rights law, and Indigenous law. Congratulations, Jennifer!

"I am extremely grateful to receive this grant funding for my education. Post-secondary education can be expensive, and law school is no different. I work full-time in the summer months to help save up money for tuition and my books. Student loans only cover a portion of my education expenses so this funding will take some financial stress off my family and allow me to put more towards my education without putting too much strain on my family. This funding also encourages me to continue working towards my goals. When I have completed my education, I hope to help support students as well because I believe education is important for our future and financial strain can be an obstacle to someone completing their education. It is important to support each other." - Jennifer Dann

Pictured left is Avara Taralson Schaupmeyer winner of Matthewson & Co.'s first annual "Post Secondary Student" Bursary. Avara graduated from high school this June and is heading off to the University of Alberta where she will major in linguistics and minor in psychology with a goal of obtaining her masters in speech-language pathology from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, and purse a career as a speech therapist who aids in language acquisition and development in children. Congratulations, Avara!

"I am immeasurably grateful to Matthewson & Co., not only for providing me specifically with this monetary support, but also in general for providing this opportunity to rural students in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and for continuing to do so in the upcoming years. Quite unjustly, oftentimes the disparity between the successful and the unsuccessful does not correspond to the disparity between the talented and untalented, driven and undriven, or intelligent and unintelligent; rather it is the reflection of the disparity between those with opportunities, and those without. It can be very difficult to attain the resources needed to learn and grow by pursuing higher education, especially in rural areas. This is why community support is so incredibly impactful and important. Scholarships and Bursaries, such as the Matthewson & Co. "Post-Secondary Student" Bursary, provide prospective students such as myself who, simply by an orchestration of fate would otherwise be without the means, the ability to pursue education for careers that allow us to create fulfilling and happy lives for ourselves, and enable us to give back to and enrich these indescribably valuable communities. I am so incredibly honoured to be this year's recipient of the Matthewson & Co. "Post-Secondary Student" Bursary; this support will truly be an immense aid to me as I pursue my studies, as it will help alleviate the massive financial burden that comes with receiving post-secondary education, making it actually possible for me to go. Thank you infinite fold to Matthewson & Co.!" - Avara Taralson Schaupmeyer