Photo supplied by Tyler Paetkau

By Shane Clausing

Community

Grande Prairie resident earns fully-funded master’s scholarship to McGill University

Apr 13, 2021 | 2:52 PM

Grande Prairie resident and current University of Alberta student Tyler Paetkau is heading to McGill University after he was named one of 20 Canadians to the inaugural McCall MacBain Scholars program.

The McCall MacBain Scholars program enables the chosen students to pursue a fully-funded master’s or professional degree at McGill University. There were 735 students that applied for the program and opportunity.

Currently, Paetkau is finishing up a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at the University of Alberta. He says the main reason he feels he was selected for this award was because of his leadership, not so much his marks.

“Obviously they wanted to know about my grades, but this scholarship was fairly unique in that it was focused on your character, volunteer activities and how you were seeking to make a difference in the community,” explained Paetkau.

“This scholarship is focused on training or building the leaders of tomorrow. They really wanted to know what you thought was important in leadership and how you saw your role in that.”

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Over his life, Paetkau volunteered with a youth group in Grande Prairie for eight years and co-led it for three years.

During his time at GPRC (Grande Prairie Regional College) he served as vice-chair of his college’s academic council, participated in student council, and helped ran the Model United Nations club.

At the University of Alberta, he also participated in the undergraduate philosophy association.

As well, when he was living in Grande Prairie, he also spent over a year as the primary caregiver for his grandfather.

Paetkau tells EverythingGP his volunteer experience helped meet people and open doors.

“When I started going to GPRC I didn’t really know anybody else. For me, volunteering was a way to build a community and meet people. Volunteering was always something super important to me and it’s always been kind of a part of my life. It’s something that I’ve found really fulfilling, so it was really easy for me to carry that over into the post-secondary setting.”

Once graduated from the University of Alberta, Paetkau will enter into the Master of Arts in Philosophy (Bioethics) program at McGill. He says his main focus at McGill will be looking at science denialism.

“I’m going to be trying to look at bridging the gap between academia and the general public. I think a lot of times there’s a real breakdown in communication and people speaking past each other. That’s what I’m wanting to focus on and hoping to address.”

He says his long-term goal is to work and teach in the philosophy sector.

“I’d really like to find a job in academia, like teaching philosophy and researching. There’s a couple of philosophy professors at GPRC and U of A who’ve had a really big impact on my life and helped me out in a lot of ways. I’d really enjoy the opportunity to play that role for students in the future.”

If everything goes according to plan, Paetkau is expected to start his degree at McGill in September.