Oneita Ballantyne selected as Queen Elizabeth Scholar

The Indian Teacher Education Program is beyond thrilled to announce that one of our students, Oneita Ballantyne, has been selected as a Queen Elizabeth Scholar receiving one of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships for 2019.

Oneita is from the Montreal Lake Cree Nation. Before attending ITEP in 2017, Oneita worked at Senator Allan Bird Memorial School as an Educational Associate. She worked one on one with a student in the first grade and found that she truly loved the experience. She decided to continue to pursue her Bachelor of Education at ITEP and was accepted for Fall 2017.

Oneita is an exceptionally dedicated student in ITEP. Her personal attributes include leadership, peer support, and confidence. When Oneita participates in class discussions, she is able to convey her ideas in a clear and engaging method. She actively leads and participates in group discussions, and shares her point of view in a reasonable and fair-minded way. She also has a deep understanding of cultural inclusion in her classroom planning and ITEP is proud to know that she will bring this to her own classroom in the future.
This May, Oneita will travel to Uganda in Africa where she will be studying Planetary Health. She will also have the opportunity to work with communities there to develop initiatives for sustainability.

The following is a brief description of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship as it is described on the U of S website:

“In 2012, Canada celebrated the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne. Support was rallied from government and the private and public sectors to fund an inspiring new scholarship initiative in her honour: the Canadian Queen Elizabeth Scholarships program.
This program represents a unique opportunity for Canadian students and Canadian universities. The goal of our program is to develop global citizens ready to work on the challenges of deteriorating planetary health through enriched academic, professional, and cross-cultural experiences.

Students selected for the scholarship program will be named “Queen Elizabeth Scholars” (QES) and will engage with communities across the Commonwealth, learn about cultures and create projects and actions that impact the world. They will build lasting relationships among their peers and with the communities that they serve and achieve personal and professional growth. Through the global community of Queen Elizabeth Scholars, they will share knowledge, exchange ideas, and collaborate on meaningful initiatives.

Queen Elizabeth Scholars will become the next generation of innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors and leaders. Through this unique international exchange of talent, students will enrich their communities and discover that anything is possible.

Ugandan government authorities and university scientists will accompany students as they learn about the historical dynamics of human and natural systems within the region. Community engagement will be at the core of the one-month field school and three-month practicum experience. Students will integrate into the community to understand challenges and envision opportunities to launch sustainable projects that will empower and create revenue to ensure the community well-being.”