Scholarships & Awards

CFUW Saanich Peninsula offers annual scholarships at the four high schools in School District #63: Parkland, Stelly’s, Claremont Secondary Schools, and the Individual Learning Centre. 

For information and applications, please contact the scholarship office at your high school.

2024 Student Winners

  • Mary Orrego – Individual learning Centre
  • Halayna Manhas – Claremont Secondary School
  • Bronwyn Hughes – Stelly’s Secondary School
  • Abigail Larkey – Parkland Secondar School

Myrna Holden Award

The CFUW Saanich Peninsula Education Trust Fund (ETF) is delighted to announce a pathbreaking scholarship for a woman working toward a degree in the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science (FECS) at the University of Victoria.

Myrna Holden was an enthusiastic founding member of our Club in 1995. When she passed away, her two children decided to honor her connection with our organization by each contributing $25,000 to create a $50,000 award in her name.

The ETF struck a sub-committee in April 2024 to consult with the Holden family and with the University of Victoria as to what that award could look like. Myrna’s degrees and early career were in Mathematics and Computer Science – in fact, she was an early female pioneer in those fields while working as a young researcher in the Canadian Department of National Defense on such projects as missile trajectories and emerging computer technologies.

Our sub-committee quickly agreed that this potential award field for women should be explored, especially because the percentage of women graduates in Engineering and Computing Science today remains small.

University of Victoria was excited to be working with us to shape the terms of this award, and so was the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science who happens to be a dynamic recruiter of women into these fields, Dr Mina Hoorfar. We are hoping to introduce her as a guest speaker next year, perhaps when our first Myrna Holden award winner is ready to be revealed!

And speaking of dynamic women, our own Club Treasurer, Susan Lane, and our past Chair of the ETF, Deb Dancik, proved to be talented sub-committee negotiators, encouraging the FECS to bring on board an anonymous donor which allowed the Myrna Holden award to be topped up by another $10,000, to a total of $60,000. This will provide enough money for each of the next ten years to pay almost the full tuition fees for one year of a female recipient who is in financial need.

Many thanks to Myrna’s children, Susie, and Mike, for their generosity and to the ETF sub-committee of Susan Lane, Deb Dancik, Penny Rinald, Alison Gardner, and Anne Callon for their hard work in bringing this project to fruition.

Awards

We also offer annual post-secondary scholarships:

– University of Victoria, the Audrey and Carl Mawby CFUW Saanich Peninsula Award for one or more awards to women undergraduate students studying Canadian or British history in the Department of History.

– Camosun College, for a student completing a second year of study and entering a degree program or a female student entering her second year of study in the Engineering Technology Program.

– Camosun College an award for a W̱SÁNEĆ Nation student entering the final year of a degree or university-transfer to a professional studies program.

– Camosun College award for their “Access to Success” entrance scholarship.

Community Gifts and Projects

Periodically CFUW Saanich Peninsula raises funds to target important community work.  Recent examples:

– $3,000 to the Individual Learning Centre (School District #63) the T.E.A.M. program (Teen Education and Motherhood program).

– $5,000 to the Saanich Peninsula Healthcare Foundation for their Professional Development Fund in support of upgrading the skill set of Licensed Practical Nurses to address the current lack of expertise in several health care specialties.

– Partnership with the Community Literacy Committee and Open Air Library.