Félicitations!
Congratulations are in order for a local teen who earned an award in a French language essay contest.
Elia Grosselle, a Grade 12 French immersion student at Collège Stonewall Collegiate, won a $3,000 scholarship through the French for the Future National Essay Competition.
The national essay contest is open to students across Canada in grades 10, 11 and 12, who have a chance to win one of 102 scholarships to continue their studies after high school completely or partially in French in one of 16 partner institutions.
This year, the contest drew a record-breaking 870 entries, including 347 submissions in Elia’s category.
Participants wrote a 750-word essay on the theme “Qu’est-ce qui fait un bon ami ou une bonne amie?” or “What makes a good friend?”
“I wrote about how friends shape the person we are and how all the friendships we make along the course of our life leave an important and unique mark on the person we become,” said Elia, who lives in Rosser.
She originally heard about the essay contest through her teachers and as well at the university and college fair at Collège Stonewall Collegiate.
“Since a student last year participated and had also won, I thought it would be super cool if someone from Stonewall won again. I really liked the topic of the essay as well and how personal you could make it. On top of that, $3,000 will be super helpful for my post-secondary studies,” said Elia, who was home sick when she found out she had won — and the good news helped to make her feel a little better.
“I will be studying at Université de Saint-Boniface next year as well as playing on the women’s soccer and futsal team. I am going to go into the general science program as my first step towards a later goal of studying medicine.”
For Elia, she enjoys learning French because it improves communication with her family, since her mom’s side of the family is French.
“Studying in French will also open so many doors and give me so many opportunities in the future,” she said.
“Furthermore, studying in French at Université de Saint-Boniface not only gives me the opportunity to continue playing soccer while in university, it also could allow me to get into medical school programs without needing to write the MCAT exam.”
As for the French essay contest, she recommends that other students give it a try.
“I would encourage anyone considering to participate to put in the time and effort to do it because it is totally worth it.”
