Six students have been named UBC’s recipients of the prestigious Schulich Leader Scholarship.

Jeanette Guo, Alexander Zhong, Leo Xu, Grace Gao, Zachary Xie and Shailah Aggarson have been named the University of British Columbia’s recipients of the prestigious Schulich Leader Scholarship.

Out of a pool of 350,000 potential candidates across Canada, more than 1,400 students were nominated, of which 100 received this celebrated award.

Jeanette Guo, 18, is a recipient of the $120,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of Hugh McRoberts Secondary School in Richmond, BC, Guo will be entering the Faculty of Applied Science this fall at UBC. Guo was selected for her outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as serving as president for three years in the McRoberts’ Engineering Club and founding the SD38 High School Engineering and Entrepreneurship Student Hub (SHEESH) program.

Alexander Zhong, 17, is a recipient of the $100,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of Windermere Secondary School in Vancouver, Zhong will be entering the Faculty of Science at UBC this fall. Zhong was selected for his outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as founding youthbusinesstrend.com—an organization that makes STEM and business education more accessible to students. Zhong also enrolled in a first-year computer science course from Harvard at age 14 and later designed a tutoring website for students struggling with their precalculus curriculum.

Leo Xu, 15, is a recipient of the $120,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of the University Transition Program (UTP), at the UBC Vancouver campus, Xu will be entering the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC this fall. Xu was selected for his outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as co-founding ArduCamp which taught the basics of electric circuits to children in grades 4–7 from underrepresented groups in STEM. Xu also developed AI-powered tech called “jHat” designed to aid communication for deaf people.

Grace Gao, 18, is a recipient of the $100,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of Port Moody Secondary, in Port Moody, BC, Gao will be entering the Faculty of Science at UBC this fall. Gao was selected for her outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as being awarded Best Education Hack, in MesoHacks 2022 for her project Notable, a note-sharing web application. Gao also claimed first place in the 2021 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge and was awarded a certificate of Performance with Distinction.

Zachary Xie, 18, is a recipient of the $120,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of the Toronto French School (TFS) in Toronto, ON, Xie, will be entering the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC this fall. Xie was selected for his outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as working as a VR developer under Dr. Sean Kalay from the Toronto Metropolitan University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering. Xie also received the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award, in 2022, to recognize his volunteer service and leadership in promoting STEM education.

Shailah Aggarson, 18, is a recipient of the $100,000 Schulich Leader Scholarship. A graduate of Renert School, Calgary, AB, Aggarson, will be entering the Faculty of Science at UBC this fall. Aggarson was selected for her outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements, such as winning the Gold Award in Alberta on the 2022 Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge, also qualifying for the 2023 Canadian Mathematics Olympiad and the 2023 European Girls Mathematics Olympiad Team Selection Test. Aggarson also tutored for five years in the Renert Bright Minds and Math Homework Club for students in grades 1–12.

“We are proud to celebrate the continued success of Schulich Leader Scholarships, the premiere STEM scholarship program in Canada. 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. 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,” says program founder Mr. Schulich.

About Schulich Leader Scholarships Canada

Recognizing the increasing importance and impact that STEM disciplines will have on the prosperity of future generations, businessman and philanthropist Seymour Schulich established this $100+ million scholarship fund in 2012 to encourage our best and brightest students to become Schulich Leader Scholars: the next generation of entrepreneurial-minded, technology innovators.

Through The Schulich Foundation, these prestigious entrance scholarships are awarded to 100 high school graduates enrolling in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) undergraduate program at 20 partner universities in Canada. Every high school in Canada can submit one Schulich Leader Nominee per academic year based on academic excellence in STEM, entrepreneurial leadership, and financial need.