The donation will create four $5,000 scholarships for Saskatchewan Polytechnic students in STEM-related courses. An additional $5,000 will be used for career exploration in STEM programming.
Burns & McDonnell are the Missouri-based engineering, procurement, and construction contractor leading the construction of the Great Plains Power Station southeast of the city.
Burns & McDonnell also donated $17,000 donation to Joe’s Place on Nov. 18.
Two of the four $5,000 scholarships have been specifically earmarked to help Indigenous students. Rosemarie Zaba Stewart, Indigenous student advisor for the Sask Polytech Moose Jaw campus, and Marlene Dormuth, the campus’ Indigenous students’ centre coordinator, were present for the cheque presentation.
“It’s huge for students,” Dormuth said, “any type of scholarship that you’re giving students only encourages their willingness to be within the education system and (to continue) a lifelong learning pattern of education.”
Zaba Stewart said that “Sometimes scholarships make the difference between students being able to stay or not… For this campus, most of our Indigenous students are from nowhere near here. They come from all over and sometimes it’s the first time they’ve been away from family. So it’s really quite a significant undertaking for them.”
Brad Butcher, project manager for the Great Plains Power Station construction site, presented the $25,000 cheque on behalf of Burns & McDonnell. Afterwards, he was given a short tour of some of the campus, including the instrumentation lab and the civil engineering department.
“When Burns & McDonnell comes to a community like Moose Jaw,” Butcher said, “we always look for opportunities to make a difference in the lives of people in the community.”
“One of the big things we believe in is education, especially STEM programs, you know, science, technology, engineering, and math,” Butcher continued. “And that’s what Sask Polytech does here, so we got with them and talked about the best way to benefit them and their students.”
Butcher added that Burns & McDonnell hope that the impact of their donation will be that students will be able to continue their education, better themselves, provide for their families, and contribute to their communities.
The extra $5,000 above and beyond the scholarships will go toward development of exploratory programming though Sask Polytech’s Women in Trades and Technologies (WITT) division sometime this spring.
Dan Bechard, academic chair of the School of Natural Resources and Built Environment, also expressed his deep appreciation for the generous donation by Burns & McDonnell.
