7th Annual Helping Hands Scholarship
Helping Hands Scholarship (the “Scholarship”) was established by six colleagues. Financial advisors ‐ Deborah Kohlsmith, Gary Elder, Kelly Wood and Alfred Redmann of HollisWealth, a trade name of Investia Financial Services Inc. (“HollisWealth”) and Investment Advisors ‐ Shane Nixon and Kim Seipt of HollisWealth, a division of Industrial Alliance Securities Inc. (all are the “Founding Advisors”). In addition, the Scholarship receives generous donations from Mark Rocklin, Regional Vice President – Ontario of Investia/HollisWealth and Stacie Fischer, Regional Vice President of IA Securities.
The intention of the Founding Advisors when establishing the Scholarship was to encourage and assist young people to pursue post‐secondary education. We believe that post‐secondary education is the foundation to a better future and we are delighted that we can continue to help young people realize their full potential.
Helping Hands Scholarship consists of two cash awards: 1st place ‐ $3,500 cash award
2nd place ‐ $2,500 cash award
Applicants for Scholarship monies must meet certain criteria – see below.
Selection Criteria:
Applicants for Scholarship monies must (i) be entering a 1st year undergraduate University or College program or be an Apprenticeship student, starting their program any time during 2020; and (ii) be an immediate family member (specifically ‐ son, daughter, niece or nephew, stepdaughter or stepson, or grandchildren are eligible) of one of our current clients.
Applicants must submit an essay entitled “My Life Goals” which should be between 2000 and 2500 words in length and should address the following elements/questions: (i) Tell us about yourself and your community involvement; (ii) What inspired you to choose your career path or area of study? (iii) What do you hope to achieve in your career with your education? and (iv) How has the current pandemic impacted you and your career choice, and what have you accomplished during this unprecedented time personally? (NOTE: your essay should be the correct length and touch on each of the areas mentioned above).
The essay should ONLY be submitted to the following email address: helpinghandsscholarship@gmail.com and should include student’s name, who the student is related to (and the respective advisor), mailing address, email address, phone number, name of school the student is attending, and the name of the programme they are enrolled in (all are mandatory).
Only one application per family will be accepted in any given year.
Proof of enrolment and proof of attendance as a full time student will be mandatory (confirmation of payment and semester schedule would be required to be submitted) prior to the student(s) receiving any Scholarship money. Once we have determined the winners, we will request this information be submitted within a timely manner to be eligible for the award(s).
Selection Process
The essays will be submitted by email to helpinghandsscholarship@gmail.com – they will be immediately numbered and made anonymous. The selection committee (comprised of the Founding Advisors) will review the essays and rank them based upon the following factors: (i) Proper essay format, spelling and grammar; (ii) Content of the essay relevant to our established criteria; (iii) Creativity and inspiration and (iv) Demonstration of leadership & community involvement.
The Founding Advisors will be responsible for choosing the ‘winning’ submissions by a majority vote.
The presentations will be made at a pre‐determined location and time and there will be a photo opportunity for our partners as well as the recipients and his/her parents or grandparents. The winning submission and photo(s) will be included in one of our upcoming Newsletter (written permission will be required to include the winning submissions and photos in our future Newsletters – this is also a mandatory component of the Scholarship).
Helping Hands Scholarship is a charitable initiative organized, funded and administered by Deborah Kohlsmith, Gary Elder, Kelly Wood, Shane Nixon, Alfred Redmann and Kim Seipt in their individual capacities. Helping Hands Scholarship is unrelated to HollisWealth, Investia Financial Services Inc. and Industrial Alliance Securities Inc., which are wholly owned subsidiaries of Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc. (‘iA Financial Group’). iA Financial Group and its related and affiliated companies have no liability for Helping Hands Scholarship.
NOTE:
Immediate children of the founding advisors and their employees are not eligible for this Scholarship.
Application Deadline:
• The deadline for submissions will be August 5th, 2020 and the recipients of Scholarship monies will be contacted by email and/or phone no later than August 20th, 2020. The awards will be presented to the winners at a convenient time in the near future.
We are looking forward to receiving submissions. Best of luck to the students who will be participating. Should you have any questions regarding your submissions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Health, Happiness & Success!
