Paul Wu can ponder his future with the peace of mind he'll receive $25,000 annually for each of the next four years to study at Kingston's Queen's University. (Submitted photo)

By Ian Holmes

sizable scholarship

‘You don’t have to have perfect grades:’ Nanaimo student lands $100K scholarship

Jul 13, 2023 | 2:42 PM

NANAIMO — While Paul Wu’s world has been turned upside down lately, he’s not complaining about it.

The NDSS graduate was accepted to UBC to pursue a computer sciences degree, but that all changed in May when he won a prestigious $100,000 scholarship to attend Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario for the next four years.

“When I got the news it was a great shock and it was just a flood of emotions,” Wu said, who quickly pulled the pin on studying and living arrangements in Vancouver.

Among a pool of 30,000 graduating high school students across the country and 1,500 nominees, Wu was one of 100 students to secure a Schulich Leadership Scholarship.

He’s since connected with other scholarship applicants and is more excited than ever about what his future holds.

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“It’s not only the money, but to me very importantly it’s the network of more than 1,000 of some of the smartest people in Canada. After I won the scholarship I’ve been talking, connecting, sharing ideas with many of these people and they’re all incredibly brilliant,” the 18-year-old Wu told NanaimoNewsNOW.

The Schulich Leadership Scholarship is awarded annually to entrepreneurial-minded high school graduates enrolling in post-secondary science, technology, engineering or math programs.

Wu, a francophone student who spent much of his childhood in Quebec prior to moving to Nanaimo at 12-years-old, produced a 600 word essay as part of his scholarship bid.

He expanded on his interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and using the evolving technology to create a better world.

“My pitch was some type of concept that would use AI to look at medical studies and look for specific biases: race, gender, sexuality or things like that.”

While undoubtedly a strong student with a 95-96 per cent average, there are many others with stronger academic scores than Wu, he conceded.

He said often students put too much pressure on themselves to produce higher grades, which Wu said can be counter-productive.

“This vision of a perfect student is just flat out incorrect pretty much — you don’t have to be studying every single day, you don’t have to have perfect grades, you just have to try your best, put yourself out there, take risks, try new things and eventually somebody will notice.”

Wu credited the influence of his parents, sisters and all of the English teachers he’s ever had.

While he could speak English upon his arrival to Nanaimo in 2017, Wu said he had no formal English education.

Wu, who also speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, specifically pointed to Nick Janzen of NDSS and prof. Amelia Horsburgh of VIU with honing his English skills.

“It’s very important to be able to communicate your ideas and what exactly what you’re trying to tell everyone. Because these days everything’s online, everything’s in an email or on a text board or something like that. The ability to write well and talk well is such an important skill,” Wu said.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes