The Matt Pearce Award is more than just a scholarship for University of Northern British Columbia women’s basketball player Emily Holmes. It’s an inspiration. “When I received the award I was literally moved to tears,” she says. “This award inspires me to build greater relationships with others and to be a community role model as Matt was.”

Sustainability is serious business and University of Northern British Columbia students are helping local entrepreneurs find ways to be environmental leaders, and save money while doing it. The course has been made possible through donations to Experiential Learning

When students living in the UNBC residences turn up the heat in the winter or open the hot water faucet, they may not realize they are taking part in a project designed to demonstrate the feasibility of local energy in growing sustainable rural and northern communities. Once fully operational, the annual reductions in carbon emissions is projected to be 350 tonnes, the equivalent of removing 110 cars from the road.

A classroom in the woods, on a hilltop overlooking the Upper Fraser area and the MacGregor Mountains, provides a great space for outdoor learning and research in forest ecology, forest and ecosystem management and environmental studies. And it’s because donors have made it possible.

A memorial contribution by the Nevison family has created two endowed scholarships for students conducting research at UNBC’s research forests.

Lisa Creelman won a Family Nurse Practitioner Program Rural Practice Graduate Award after choosing to live and work in Mackenzie.

Environmental Planning students gain real-life experience designing a housing project

A financial award from TransCanada Corporation helped Bianca Michell pursue her graduate studies at UNBC.