Each year, 50 students from across Canada are awarded with a scholarship offered by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Foundation as part of the organization’s outreach initiative.
These scholarships are awarded to students who are studying in the S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields and plan to pursue a career in either the aviation or aerospace fields.
As the foundation’s mission states, these scholarships are “offered to Canada’s next generation of aviation and aerospace leaders.”
One of the students selected this year was Shawn Turcotte from Moose Jaw.
Shawn was born in Moose Jaw, but with a father in the military he did his fair share of travelling. Shawn recalled living in Moose Jaw, Cold Lake, Quebec, Texas, Ottawa, and has returned to Moose Jaw a couple times between moves. Currently, he is living back in Moose Jaw.
With all this travelling, one thing remained consistent: Shawn was surrounded by aircraft and technology and soon he found himself drawn to the field academically.
And with this love of aircraft and technology, Shawn soon developed an interest in space travel.
“I really love aviation, space, and science,” he said. “I love the technology behind (aviation) and learning about how it works.”
Knowing of a way to help his son pursue his dream, his father Philippe Turcotte, who is the commanding officer at the 15-Wing Flight School, brought the RCAF Foundation scholarship to Shawn’s attention.
“He showed us a lot of things about aviation, and that helped,” Shawn recalled, speaking about his father who was a major inspiration for him.
“My dad helped inspire me to go into his field.”
The scholarship offered by the RCAF Foundation is enough “to cover around half of the housing plus tuition costs,” at least for his first year of study.
Currently, Shawn has just graduated from grade 12 and is registered to continue studying this fall at the University of Regina. Here, he plans to major in biochemistry.
After he graduates from the University of Regina, Shawn plans to continue his studies but will decide at that time which university offers the best program for him.
His career goal is to pursue medical research and advance the field of medicine.
Specific to this, Shawn is looking into the medical consequences of space flight and living and working in a zero-gravity environment.
“In general, there’s a lot you can learn about the human body for medical conditions just by seeing how zero gravity affects the body,” Shawn said.
“There are a lot of barriers to long-term space exploration, such as how the human body starts to degrade over time. I would like to help overcome that.
“I’d like to work in the space industry, maybe at NASA or something.”
And with NASA announcing that their Artemis Program plans to return humans to the moon by 2025, Shawn’s work is both interesting and critical.
The RCAF Foundation offers 49 scholarships of $1000, and one student is selected to receive the Chris Allan RCAF Foundation scholarship which is valued at $2500.
The goal is to encourage more young students to pursue careers in the fields of aviation and aerospace. As it stands, these fields are currently in demand and require a skilled workforce to operate.
As an organization, the RCAF Foundation has the mission of representing the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) “through community engagement, education programs and commemorative activities.”
