The bright and dynamic Kamal Dhillon has been awarded one* of UWinnipeg’s prestigious Sir William Stephenson Scholarships. Her ties to UWinnipeg are strong as her two sisters are alumni and she has a brother also currently enrolled at the university. Dhillon is in her fourth year of education at UWinnipeg and has already completed the requirements for her BA in English.
“Earning this scholarship validates my hard work,” expressed Dhillon. “I love school and I love learning. I believe education is a building block in improving lives. You can open many doors with education.”
Dhillon’s love for education, politics and social justice issues resonates with her personal engagement and community involvement that affect the local, national and international community.
“Kamal is one of the most original thinkers and disciplined writers I have taught,” expressed Dr. Lloyd Kornelsen, Assistant Professor, Faculty Education and her professor in Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment for History/Social Studies. “Her care for social studies education is infectious; her questions of teaching and learning are incisive and difficult.”
Dhillon currently works at St. John’s High School, located in the core of Winnipeg’s North End, as a teacher candidate. She also works with Manitoba Education and Advanced Learning and has worked as an educational assistant with River East Transcona School Division.
Although she is young, her list of accomplishments in community engagement is long. In 2011 she was selected as the recipient of the YMCA/YWCA’s Women of Distinction Award of Promise.
She has been involved with West Broadway Youth Outreach (a skills and recreational program for youth living in the inner city), in both a work and volunteer capacity. She has actively participated in the organization’s invaluable after-school and summer programming which provides access to tutoring, mentorship, musical instruction, creative projects and other life skills development for youth.
Dhillon currently is the Chairperson of the Youth Parliament of Manitoba. As Chair, Dhillon leads an executive board which coordinates the tasks and responsibilities of a 20 person team of volunteers.
Dhillon’s voice can be heard from time to time on CBC radio as a guest on the Provocative Panel. She has spoken out on issues of arranged marriage and honour killings.
* These scholarships, established in 1984 by Sir William Stephenson through The Winnipeg Foundation, are awarded annually to one or two students who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, superior leadership qualities and the potential to make a valuable contribution to Canada.
BACKGROUND: SIR WILLIAM STEPHENSON
Sir William Stephenson (1896-1989) was born in the Point Douglas area and exemplified the highest qualities of dedication and patriotism. In World War I, as a private in the Royal Canadian Engineers, Sir William suffered the effects of poison gas in the trenches of France. After recovering, he volunteered for service in the Royal Flying Corps and returned to France where he shot down twenty-six enemy planes. He was decorated several times for bravery and during this period he accomplished his paramount sporting achievement, winning the Interservice Lightweight World Boxing Championship. After the War, Sir William studied at Oxford.
During the early 1920s, Sir William returned to England and pursued a brilliant career in technology-based industries, particularly those associated with communications and aircraft. He invented and patented the first device for transmitting photographs by wireless and played an instrumental role in the founding of the BBC and in the early stages of television development. He won the King’s Cup Air Race and encouraged and financed the development of the Spitfire aircraft and later the jet engine.
In World War II, Sir Winston Churchill appointed Sir William Stephenson as Director of British Security Coordination in the Western Hemisphere and his personal representative to President Roosevelt. Operating under the code name “Intrepid,” Sir William strove for anonymity from this time onward. He was knighted for his services to the Commonwealth in 1945.
In 1979, Sir William received an honorary doctorate degree from The University of Winnipeg. In 1984, he made a significant gift to The University of Winnipeg for the purpose of establishing the Sir William Stephenson Scholarships. Sir William passed away in Bermuda in 1989.
