Stittsville student wins $120,000 Schulich Scholarship

Kaylee Gagné, a graduate of École secondaire catholique Paul-Desmarais in Stittsville, has been awarded the $120,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship to pursue engineering at Queen's University starting this fall.

The scholarship, one of Canada's most prestigious, recognizes academic excellence, leadership, creativity, and entrepreneurial spirit. Gagné will study engineering at Queen's Stephen J. R. Smith Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science over four years.

When she learned of the award, Gagné was in the car with her mother. "I was entirely taken aback," she said. "I saw the subject line of the email stating that I had been offered a Schulich Leader Scholarship, but I didn't really process it until after reading the full message. I was completely in a state of disbelief. Eventually, I did, and I was just so excited — I remember quite literally jumping for joy."

Gagné's passion for engineering stems from a desire to address global challenges like climate change. "I have always cared for the environment, having grown up surrounded by nature, but for a while I was unsure how I could make a meaningful impact," she said. "Throughout 11th grade, exploring STEM subjects in greater depth, especially physics, helped me discover that I wanted to do something where I could continue learning about these topics while applying them to real-world problems."

At Paul-Desmarais, Gagné led her school's Environmental Committee through a period of rebuilding. When she took over, the group had dwindled to just two or three members. Through recruitment and new ideas, she expanded participation and launched multiple green initiatives: free tree giveaways, a school garden, a greening project for the building, a school clean-up, sustainable theme days, and participation in a school-board environmental summit.