A Hazlet student has achieved both a huge honour and opportunity from the University of Calgary.
Braden Baumann, a Grade 12 student at Hazlet school, received the Kennedy Scholars Academic Excellence Scholarship from the University of Calgary.
He is the only student from outside of Calgary to get this scholarship this year.
"When I heard the news, I was really in shock," Baumann said. "There was a lot of other candidates. There had been a weekend there that we had gone to, and I'd got to meet some of the other candidates and I was just very surprised that I could be receiving this award."
The Kennedy Scholars Academic Excellence Scholarship is worth up to $125,000 over a 5-year Computer Science program. It also gives the winner a number of other perks including access to a dedicated advisor, key resources on campus, and summer internship and employment opportunities.
Baumann was encouraged to apply for the scholarship. He discussed his history of extracurricular activities and community service. He has had success at previous science fairs and curls for Hazlet school.
Baumann also felt his entrepreneurial spirit helped him earn the award. He has already sold multiple video games and created a website for other games.
"I've been making games for upwards of five years now and it's just been a passion of mine," Baumann said. "Just having sold those few games to a media company and having that entrepreneurial experience of kind of having shown that I can do that, I guess is potentially one of the reasons that they might have chosen me."
He sold games like Slingshot Rotation and A Snail's Pace to Cool Math Games. He also has games on the site Itch.io.
He'll be studying computer science with an eye towards a career in video games.
Baumann's grade in every 30-level class but one has been 100%; Computer Science 30, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, Math: Foundations 30, English Language Arts A 30, Math: Pre-calculus 30; and in Physics 30 he earned a 99%.
"I guess I just try my best in everything I do," he said. "I'm lucky to have good parents and good support through my teachers and just people around me that have allowed me to do my best. I'm not trying to focus on getting those good grades. It's more of a focus for me of the actual learning and focusing on just trying my best for the principle of it in itself, rather than focusing on trying to get good grades. I have just tried to learn and enjoy it as I went."
Baumann is looking forward to the next level of his education in Calgary.
Braden Baumann. (Submitted)