PRINCE ALBERT — Carlton graduate Sahas Mittal has been named one of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) 2024 recipients of the prestigious Schulich Leadership Scholarship.
Mittal said that he applied for every scholarship that he could find. He was not aware of the scholarship until the week before the deadline. The University emailed Mittal and he asked academic advisor Lindsay Strachan about the scholarship and Strachan nominated him.
He said that winning the scholarship will help him focus on his studies.
“It means a lot because now I'm moved in, I would have to work part-time during university doing engineering and that was going to be tough,” Mittal said. “There were lots of things that I wanted to join when I was studying engineering, which is one of the hardest degrees you can do in university.
"I don’t have to worry about all of that financial planning. I can just focus on my studies.”
Through the Schulich Foundation, entrance scholarships are awarded annually to 100 high school graduates enrolled in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) undergraduate program at 20 partner universities in Canada, including USask.
Mittal is a recipient of the $120,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship and will be entering the College of Engineering at USask this fall. Mittal maintained an average of 99 per cent through his last three years of high school – despite financial and resource barriers, largely due to his family immigrating to Canada from India in 2017.
He chose to study engineering because it was something he was passionate about. The subject also runs in the family.
“My dad is also a mechanical engineer and he kind of pushed the subject,” he said. “The years in elementary school and mostly in high school, I developed a real appreciation for it and it is what I really wanted to do.”
Mittal is not sure what he will be doing with his engineering degree but he has many options.
"Initially, my plan was to look into mechanical engineering, but my plan in the first year (is to) explore all the options and then I could do either mechanical or electrical engineering or even go towards working with robotics. That's something I am interested in as well,” he said.
Mittal reinstated the robotics program at Carlton and this subject is of particular interest to him. He also led the Skills Canada Robotics team at his high school.
"The Schulich is specifically for engineering, so I can take any major for the engineering program. The first year is in general and the first year basically exploring all of the different options and choose from there,” he explained.
Mittal worked part-time throughout school, which meant sacrificing time spent on studies, sports and clubs. He still found time to successfully earn his glider pilot license through the Air Cadet program and fill leadership positions within the cadets.
He said that his work in Cadets was a large part of his application.
“I kind of consider cadets and school the two large focuses of my high school. In cadets I managed to reach the highest rank and managed to get the scholarship, so that helped me out for my application,” he explained.
Currently, Mittal is working on an ambitious project to design a convenient and cheap modification for a basic wheelchair to make it autonomous and electric. He hopes to push the frontier in the autonomous technology and robotics space that is accessible to everyone.
The organization that administers the scholarship is proud of all students who have been awarded Schulich Leader Scholarships.
“This group of outstanding students will represent the best and brightest Canada has to offer and will make great contributions to society, both on a national and global scale,” founder Seymour Schulich said in a press release. “With their university expenses covered, they can focus their time on their studies, research projects, extracurriculars, and entrepreneurial ventures. They are the next generation of entrepreneurial-minded, technology innovators.”
Mittal also received the Chancellor’s Scholarship which is worth $30,000.
“With the two scholarships combined I have enough money to live in the dorms and still have it all be covered,” he said.
A graduate of WP Sandin School in Shellbrook has also been selected for a Schulich Leader Scholarship. Abigail Kyliuk received the $120,000 scholarship from the University of Calgary.
