Leaside student wins $100,000 scholarship

Left: Denise Wilson, Curriculum Leader for Guidance, and (right) Anna Postill at Commencement.
Left: Denise Wilson, Curriculum Leader for Guidance, and (right) Anna Postill at Commencement.

Leaside High School’s recent graduate, Anna Postill, 17, is a young woman of many accomplishments, two of which have been featured in previous Leaside Life articles: her partnership with her sister in an online business to raise money for charity and her participation in MP Rob Oliphant’s advisory panel on youth addictions and mental illness.

But perhaps her most dramatic achievement is winning a Schulich Leader Scholarship worth $100,000 to study engineering at the University of New Brunswick. Anna was chosen as Leaside’s nominee for the award because of her exceptional level of involvement in school and extracurricular activities, and her outstanding academic record. Throughout high school, all of her marks were in the 90s and her average this year was 96%.

Anna highlighted three activities on her application to represent different aspects of her life. She was the co-chair of both the Environmental Team and the Mental Health and Wellness Committee, positions that enabled her to implement several significant initiatives. Outside of school, she cofounded Be the Vibe Jewelry with her sister, Gemma, and does the web design and marketing for this company, which raises funds for rainwater harvesting systems in Rwanda.

Other favourite projects include organizing the Edge Youth Group at St. Monica’s Parish, a volunteer trip to the Amazon, a Yale Young Global Scholars Program and a SHAD program (a summer enrichment program for exceptional youth named after a creek in Aurora) at Carleton University where she designed and developed a naturally dimming ambient light bulb with her team, as well as devising the business plan and marketing campaign for it.

This last project sparked Anna’s interest in engineering and the University of New Brunswick’s innovative program featuring one-on-one work sessions with professors and research opportunities for undergraduates. She is “really excited and honoured” to receive the Schulich Scholarship to attend UNB.

Anna credits her parents with inspiring her “to get involved in causes you genuinely care about in order to improve the world.” She is also grateful to the Leaside community for supporting Be the Vibe Jewelry and to the school for providing “lots of opportunities to join various clubs with dedicated staff advisors.” She is especially grateful for the help and encouragement of Denise Wilson, Curriculum Leader for Guidance, who describes Anna as an “authentic, compassionate and motivated young woman who takes on initiatives and drives them to remarkable results.”

Anna looks forward to the “academic rigour of university and more opportunities to make a difference by combining engineering with entrepreneurship and volunteerism.”

We look forward to seeing what she will accomplish in the future with her impressive talents, skills and determination.

About Janis Fertuck 106 Articles
Janis Fertuck is a retired English teacher who spent the last 30 years of her career at Leaside High School. She enjoys writing about the vibrant Leaside community where she and her husband have lived for 22 years. Her other favourite pursuits include a part-time job at a boutique on Bayview and volunteering with the Bayview Pixies.