Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship

At our tenth annual Magical Evening fundraiser in 2018, we were pleased to announce the beginning of the Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship, an annual scholarship of $1000 to be given to one student each year to help fund their post-secondary studies. This scholarship was created by the Christensen family in memory and in celebration of Jonah’s kindness, curiosity, mischievousness, and energetic drive to live life to the fullest. We hope this annual award will encourage youth to reflect on these qualities as they look toward their future endeavours.

2023 Scholarship Winner:

Congratulations to our 2023 Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship winner Yoonchae Lee!!  Yoonchae is going into a Bachelor of Arts degree at UBC this fall. They volunteer at school and art galleries and is passionate about writing and biology, and have plans for an MLIS in information accessibility and librarianship for public service.

Applicants must…

• be in their final year of high school.
• be intending to attend a post-secondary institution in the upcoming academic year that is a registered charity. (Check here: https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en )

2024Jonah Christensen Memorial Scholarship:

Applicants will be required to submit a 750-word essay on the year’s topic to celebratejonah@shaw.ca, by the submission deadline.

This year’s essay topic:

**To Be Determined**

Note: Submissions in either English or French are accepted.

Application Format: Applications should be sent as a Word document to celebratejonah@shaw.ca. Please have the subject line “Scholarship Application” and include your name, age, phone number, current high school and intended post-secondary institution in the body of the email, not in the essay attachment.

The application deadline is March 31^st, 2024.  All applicants will receive a confirmation of submission. The winning applicant will be announced by June 19^th, 2024.

The Selection Process:

All applicants will receive an email confirmation that we have received their application.

First Round – Qualification

• Any applications that do not meet our requirements, for example if the applicant is not attending a post-secondary institution registered as a charity or did not answer the essay question, will be rejected.

Second Round – Shortlist

• All eligible essays will be assigned a random number to avoid bias and the Scholarship Administrator, Hannah Christensen, will read all eligible essays and grade them based on the following criteria:
  • Creativity (/5)
  • Style and organization (/3)
  • Punctuation, grammar, spelling (/2)
  • Content (/5)
• Tips: Make sure your essay is creative, concise, and clear. While you should make some mention of relevant extra-curricular activities and future goals, focus more on telling a compelling story than cramming in your entire résumé.

A shortlist of 5 essays will be selected from this round.

Final Round – Selection

• A final panel of the Christensen family and/or Celebrate the Child volunteers will read and evaluate the final 5 essays selected in the Second Round, and determine the final winner. The winning essay’s randomly assigned number will be connected back to the applicant’s contact information and the winner will be contacted.