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Boating BC Awards Marine Trades Scholarships to Ten Students Across BC

Boating BC Awards Marine Trades Scholarships to Ten Students Across BC

Boating BC Awards Marine Trades Scholarship to Ten Students Across BC

Ten students from British Columbia were awarded Glenn Spartz Scholarships from Boating BC in order to further pursue their careers in the industry. Created specifically in response to the growing demand for skilled marine trades, the scholarship directly supports individuals working towards their educational and career goals. 

“We’ve seen the boating industry in BC grow by 30 per cent over the last five years, and with this growth we’re seeing a shortage of qualified marine mechanical technicians,” says Boating BC President, Don Prittie. “The Glenn Spartz Scholarship is one way Boating BC is working to address this shortage and we couldn’t be more pleased to distribute these scholarships to students looking to pursue careers in boating.” 

Each scholarship recipient received up to $1,500 towards their education, and are all entering Level Two of the Marine Mechanical Technician Program at BCIT in January. The ten scholarship recipients are:

  • Darryl Stanley, Surrey
  • Michael Lance, Powell River
  • Nathan Choo, West Vancouver
  • Nic Meakin, West Kelowna
  • Thomas Arnold, Courtenay
  • Thilak Adikari, North Vancouver
  • Nolan Hyam, Enderby
  • Joseph Cervantes, Surrey
  • Brock Kelsch, Nanaimo
  • Brandon Miller, Sidney

The BC boating industry employs 17,000 British Columbians in the province and contributes significant direct impacts on the economy resulting in $1.3 billion to the provincial GDP.

The Glenn Spartz Scholarship is a collaborative initiative led by Boating BC with contributing partners from the marine propulsion sector including: Mercury Marine, Volvo Penta, Yamaha, Honda Marine, BRP/Evinrude, Suzuki Marine and Yanmar/Land Sea Power.  It is named in honour of a former Boating BC board member who was instrumental in establishing the MMT program.


 December 19, 2017