Suncor brightens students' futures

Page 4

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology got a big boost when it received a donation from the Suncor Energy Foudation.

The Suncor Energy Foundation donated $300,000 to NAIT's $4 million Aboriginal Educational Success Initiative, which provides program development, mobile education units, an Aboriginal students' centre and student awards.

The foundation was established by Suncor Energy Inc. to manage their community contributions through donations to charitable organizations in Canada.

"We recognize and know that, because our operations are situated in communities that are surrounded by First Nations and Metis organizations, we want to be sure that Aboriginal students are having an opportunity to participate," said Cathy Glover, manager of the Suncor Energy Foundation.

"This program that we've supported allows students to be able to hopefully become successful as they enter a field of study at NAIT."

"I think it's just outstanding. It's a huge help for us. For (Suncor) to step up to the plate is a very key milestone for us," said NAIT president Dr. Sam Shaw. "We want higher completion rates and higher success in the technical programs. We've been able to go from 30 per cent completion rates to 72 per cent completion rates in the last three to four years, so were hoping to increase those completion rates. We're hoping to get more students with the prerequisites to enter those (technical) programs."

Suncor also helps NAIT by sending apprentices- many of whom are Aboriginal-to their school for technical training.

"Our country is facing a major skills shortage, with 40 per cent of our workforce expected to retire over the next 10 years," said Sue Lee, Suncor's senior vice president of human resources and communications and president of the Suncor Energy Foundation.

"Economic growth depends upon our ability to educate people from all cultures and all backgrounds. Our support of NAIT is another important step in supporting economic growth and building Aboriginal capacity within Alberta and Canada."

NAIT is one of the largest institutes of technology in Canada with more than 17,000 full-time and apprenticeship students and 45,500 continuing education registrations. The institute offers more than 190 programs leading to certificates, diplomas and applied degrees, plus 1,200 continuing education courses.