For the 7th consecutive year University of Waterloo generated the largest number of Schulich Leader nominee applicants, earning them two additional scholarships to offer this gifted pool of candidates. The recipients from these two prestigious universities embody leadership and elite innovative thinking!

Advait Maybhate from Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School in Waterloo is pursuing a degree in computer science at UW. This is the second winner from this high school, Flora Jung received the scholarship at Western in 2013. Advait created SumNotes, a web application for the automatic summarization of lectures at Hack the North 2017. Joining him is math recipient Robin Wen from Walter Murray Collegiate in Saskatoon, SK, also a two-time winner! Annie Yao won the award in 2015 from U of T. Robin’s keen interest in math led him to compete in numerous mathematics competitions over the years, many of which he’s won! He also qualified for the Canadian Math Olympiad in both 2017 and 2018.

The first of UWaterloo’s two engineering receipients is David Gu. A graduate of TMS School in Richmond Hill, Ontario, he is also the second winner from his school. Sandra Sabongui previously won at Western in 2016. David founded a startup to teach students virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) app development. The second engineering recipient is Atif Mahmud, who was nominated by Waterloo Collegiate Institute. Based in Waterloo, Atif is CEO and Lead Developer for Flowi, a startup that’s a smart advertising solution for dense city centres which leverages WiFi to bring consumers relevant push notifications for deals and purchases from nearby stores. We look forwad to seeing what this group of students create next!

Not to be outdone, University of Manitoba added two amazing scholars to their Schulich Leader squad! Dakota Collegiate‘s Alex Kitt hails from Winnipeg. The first winner from his school, he maintained honours in every single course throughout his high school career. Every single course! All while competing in many extracurricular activites, including the Competitive Gaming Club, Cyber Defense, Student Council and lead roles in the school musicals. UM’S engineering recipient is also notable. Michael Kehler is from first time winner Calvin Christian Collegiate in Winnipeg. Michael has built a working racing drone from scratch, capable of flying with fpv (virtual reality) goggles, with only resources found on the internet. He had to learn a lot about electronics, how to solder, some programming skills, and how to fly it, all on his own.

This outstanding batch of students exemplify what it truly means to be a Schulich Leader, possessing a unique combination of academic exellence and entrepreneurial, business and community leadership. We look forward to having you on the 2018 SL Squad!