With over 5,000 applicants each year and 36 candidates selected in 2024, the Loran Scholars Foundation has an acceptance rate under one per cent. Four incoming Queen’s students made the cut.
The Loran scholarship program provides high school students the opportunity to attend a post-secondary institution at a reduced cost. Scholars receive roughly $100,000 to fund their university education and activities.
Prospective Loran Scholars start with a written application that showcases their personality and experience. They complete video questions before advancing to a Zoom interview. The final stage involves an in-person event where the remaining applicants are guaranteed a $6,000 scholarship. The 36 Loran Scholars are then selected.
The Journal sat down with the four scholarship recipients attending Queen’s this fall.
Paolo Ramelli, Comm ’28
Paolo Ramelli chose Queen’s because of the business program’s prestigious reputation and various clubs. When he visited campus, Ramelli felt welcomed.
“The community felt very open, and it felt like a great place to be and a great place to study,” Ramelli said in an interview with The Journal.
As a high school student, Ramelli co-designed an Artificial intelligence-powered robot for a long-term care home. The robot, who the Hamilton native named ‘Temi,’ would chat about the weather, crack jokes, and play music for the residents.
After running a six-month-long research project to measure Temi’s impact on individual quality of life, Ramelli found residents’s loneliness decreased by 15 to 20 per cent.
When he wasn’t building innovative robots, Ramelli worked with the Hamilton Challenger Baseball organization which provides individuals with developmental disabilities the opportunity to play sports.
Teerka Baskaran, HealthSci ’28
The Loran scholarship allows Teerka Baskaran to pursue her ion for ing health-related organizations.
“It’s really nice to know I can graduate debt-free, and that really relieves a lot of stress for the next four years, which allows me to start thinking about other things that are pushing forward my career and things that interest me,” Baskaran said.
Coming from Stouffville, Baskaran volunteered with Students for Herd Immunity, a program that educates youth on vaccines. While in high school, Baskaran was an advisor for the program, giving input on how they could better reach young people.
Additionally, Baskaran volunteered with Health for Homeless, an organization that distributes care kits, clothing, and other necessities to people in need. She created a Health for Homeless branch within her high school and led a team of 30 students.
Blake Conod, Sci ’28
Kingston-native, Blake Conod, is ready to the Queen’s engineering community as a first-year in the Computer and Electrical Engineering Innovation program. The program allows students to get a computer and electrical engineering degree while taking four commerce courses in entrepreneurship and innovation.
“The culture at Queens was really strong, and that was interesting to me. People are very close together within the [engineering] program, and it’s not as, let’s say, competitive to get that certain grade average so that you can get into the engineering discipline that you want in the second year,” Conod said in an interview with The Journal.
Conod brings his experience in student government and fundraising to Queen’s.
Starting as a grade representative on his high school’s student council, Conod worked his way up to president. He organized activities to stimulate school spirit, including sporting and video game events. Conod launched Relay for Life at his high school, a cancer fundraising event. He raised around $16,000 at his school of 300 students.
During his high school years, Conod was involved in music, leading his school’s band and his musical ensemble called ‘Hooz Hear.’ He and his bandmates performed at events in the Frontenac area, including a fundraiser for the Kingston Youth Shelter.
Billy Truong, Comm ’28
In his search for a post-secondary institution, Truong ed students and alumni from schools across Canada to learn about their experiences. The Queen’s community was by far the most responsive, Truong explained.
“I’ve really felt the culture that the school has instilled in its students. I received help from alums and from upper years. While I want to be on the receiving end, I want to be in the giving end, too,” Truong said.
There weren’t a lot of opportunities to learn about business-related fields at his high school in Moncton, New Brunswick, Truong explained. To address this issue, he started his high school’s first business club, as well as a math tutoring club.
Truong continued to involve himself in school life through the role of student government president. He organized fundraising events, sports tournaments, football games, and other activities aimed at fostering a strong school community.
The importance of community also drove Truong to apply to be a Loran Scholar. There’s an open dialogue between older and younger Loran scholars, Truong explained.
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