Sudbury student receives $115,000 in scholarships

A Grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School recently received more than $100,000 in scholarships to continue his studies at university in the fall.

Tyler Smith is a Grade 12 student at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School. He is the recipient of a prestigious scholarship for his proficiency in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math.)

"I'm definitely very grateful for lots of people who supported me thus far," Smith said.

"Being here as part of the robotics program, lots of the teachers, Mr. Monti and many other students who are part of the program."

Smith said he grew up in an engineering family and he discovered his passion for engineering when he started Grade 9 at Lo-Ellen.

"My mom is an engineer and she always encouraged me to look into engineering, but it wasn’t really until I got into Lo-Ellen where I learned some introductory engineering skills," he said.

"From there I was really interested in part of the robotics program we have here at the school."

Dan Monti of Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School has taught Tyler since Grade 9. Monti said since Smith became involved in the EDIT (engineering, design and innovative technology) lab, there is no stopping him.

“One of the things I’m particularly proud of is he has very limited robotics and engineering experience coming into Grade 9," Monti said.

"So it was really great to see the recognition that he received through this scholarship. He’s been such a great leader in the program and he’s inspired the next generation of students here at Lo-Ellen Park to thrive."

Smith will be attending McMaster University in the fall.

“They have a general first-year engineering program that I’ll be taking part in and I’d eventually like to specialize in mechatronics and robotics," he said.

"They have a mechatronics engineering program and my hope is to specialize in that during my second year."

In addition to the $100,000, Smith also received the McMaster First Robotics Scholarship, valued at $15,000.