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CMU announces 2024 Leadership Scholarship recipients
Recipients awarded $3,500 annually for up to four years, to a maximum of $14,000
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) strives to make education accessible and affordable for students through scholarships and bursaries. In 2022/23, CMU distributed over $720,000 in financial assistance to students.
CMU is pleased to award the 2024 Leadership Scholarship to Adalynne Pahl (Westgate Mennonite Collegiate), Milo Klassen (Mennonite Collegiate Institute), and Ella Grijalva (Collège Béliveau).
The award, worth up to $14,000 over four years of study, is granted annually to high school graduates who demonstrate significant leadership ability, academic excellence, personal character, service, and vision.
The competitive scholarship process requires applicants to submit a resumé outlining their leadership involvement, two letters of recommendation, and a 1,000-word essay reflecting on what leadership means to them.
This year's recipients each approached their view on leadership through different lenses—polarization, faith, and sports—but shared the common perspective that leaders must be compassionate listeners.
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Adalynne PahlAdalynne Pahl wrote about the world's current state of polarization and the need for good leaders especially during this time. "Leaders have to listen as much as they speak," she emphasized at the start of her essay. She followed by detailing the importance of leaders thinking outside their own bubbles, discerning their values—what is immovable and what is worth compromising—and addressing conflict rather than avoiding it. Mostly importantly, Pahl wrote, "To be shown true acceptance by someone completely different than you is powerful. Acceptance for everyone, regardless of who they are, is key to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment, and it begins at the top."
She has been practicing leadership since elementary school, when friends fought over games and she jumped into action to mediate. Since these small beginnings, she has learned much through being a small group leader at her high school and a summer camp staff. She's looking forward to being both challenged and supported at CMU. "I do not know exactly what lies ahead of me or where my path will take me, but I do know this: I can learn from and rely on the people around me to show me how I can be a leader in this world, seeking to bring positive change, light, and love to all I encounter."
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Milo KlassenThe qualities that Milo Klassen considers important for leadership are having vision, drive, intrinsic motivation, and effective communication. His essay discussed the challenges leaders face today, amidst a changing social landscape, technological advancement, and the resulting misinformation online. It's for this reason that Klassen highlighted the importance of diversity in leadership. "A combination of younger people, who grew up with skills and opinions more relevant to the current landscape, and more experienced people, who have a broader context for many issues...can complement each other and better navigate a changing landscape," he wrote.
Klassen has insight into leadership from his time on his high school's soccer team and as student body vice president. Perhaps the most important takeaway from his essay is that leadership and humility can, and must, go hand in hand. "The Christian faith has the perfect example of humble but powerful leadership" through Jesus, he said. Through opportunities to learn and practice leadership skills at CMU, he hopes to emulate Jesus' example.
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Ella Grijalva
To Ella Grijalva, leadership means something different depending on each unique context. She discovered this in the dynamic, everchanging environment of sports, through her role as a volleyball and basketball coach for the younger grades in her high school. "Through coaching, I learned that the qualities I feel every leader should possess are empathy, patience, and accountability," she wrote.
In her essay, Grijalva explored the significance of focusing on the emotions and goals of the people one is leading. She identified the challenges that a leader may face, like trying to lead someone who has had negative experiences with another leader or determining when to push and when to support. Meeting people where they're at remains at the forefront for her. As a Red River Métis person, the values that guide her and will continue to form her as a leader are "The Seven Sacred Teachings: respect, love, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility, and truth," she explained. "At CMU, I plan to continue my journey into who I am as a spiritual Indigenous woman, as well as continue to learn about other faiths and belief systems."
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