By Heather Rumbolt
Special to the Gazette
The Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States and the American Killam Trusts have recognized their common goals and joined hands to create the long-awaited Killam Fellowship.

The goal of this prestigious university scholarship program is to foster a deep-seated mutual understanding between Canadian and American future leaders. Each recipient from a partnered Canadian university spends one academic year at a partnered American university and vice versa, allowing some of North America’s brightest young men and women to fully embrace the culture and lifestyle of their closest international neighbour.

This year, not only has Memorial University been selected as one of Canada’s 10 participating universities in this highly reputable program, but it is the only Canadian university to receive the honour of having two successful student scholars selected to partake in the intra-continental exchange: Christa Vincent and Mikaela Dyke.

Ms. Vincent, 20, hailing from Lewisporte, Newfoundland, has completed two years of study at Memorial, working towards a bachelor of science degree in psychology. With a Memorial University Alumni Scholarship and Loyal Orange Lodge Scholarship already on her growing list of accomplishments, she has also participated in both a regional youth council for economic development and a provincial youth parliament program. And with her full extracurricular schedule, she still manages to maintain a 4.0 GPA. An aspiring clinical psychologist, Ms. Vincent will begin her year-long study at Bridgewater State University in Massachussets in September 2003.

“Some of the most groundbreaking psychological research is currently being conducted in the United States, and learning from individuals directly involved in such research would be an excellent way to advance the depth of knowledge in my field,” she said.

Ms. Dyke, 17, a St. John’s native, has completed only one year of university study, but has blown professors out of the water with her abilities and achievements. She has made quite a name for herself in her short time at Memorial having worked with the ESL program and having been an active member of the United Nations Society. With a growing list of awards under her belt – meriting skills from fine art to computer science to acting – this extremely well-rounded English drama/Russian major is a walking success story.

A young scholar, Ms. Dyke skipped a grade in high school and has certainly proven herself more than worthy to her fellow Memorial classmates, boasting over a 90 per cent average and a 4.0 GPA – almost unimaginable in her field of study. Her comprehension of five different languages will come in handy in her study at Smith College in Massachusetts, upon which she embarks this fall.

“I feel my diversified background in leadership, arts and the sciences would allow me to not only meet the challenges raised by this exchange, but to enjoy doing so,” she said.