Associated Bank recently awarded Camille Warner, a student at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, with a $2,500 “Good Fit” scholarship for writing about what a good fit meant for her when choosing her college. Warner is from Marshfield, Wisconsin.
The scholarship money will be paid directly to her university for the 2014-2015 school year to help with tuition, fees, books and supplies expenses.
This scholarship was awarded to only eight students out of nearly 800 entries throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. Recipients were chosen based on their ability to creatively express why their university is a good fit.
“The ability to provide these students with scholarships is something that Associated takes pride in,” said John Baur, community bank president, Associated Bank. “It not only reinforces our local involvement and dedication to the Marshfield community, but it also helps us to assist our customers with the high cost of education, making it more affordable for them to secure their good fit.”
The scholarship application process provided students the opportunity to not only describe why they have found a good fit at their university, but also to reward them for their abilities to tell their story on the journey to finding their good fit. Associated believes that finding this fit is imperative to the students’ success because it will also help lead them to the path of their perfect career.
At Associated, a good fit is giving customers all the advice and financial services they need, in one place. For Warner, it means not always feeling comfortable, but feeling challenged. “Not a challenge of the insurmountable, discouraging type, but rather a challenge that reminds you of the satisfaction derived from facing your own fears, doubts, and ignorance,” said Warner. “A good fit provides both a place to return to when lost and the confidence to strike out to somewhere new.”
Based on her personal definitions, McGill University was the clear choice. “What I found in Montreal was that my university experience will be a long-term personal experiment to explore how I handle the incredible diversity that accompanies such an international population,” said Warner. “So McGill and Montreal have been the perfect fit thus far; they have provided a culturally explosive backdrop that consistently surprises me, but that also still feels familiarly like home when I walk back onto the streets for the first time in a long while.”
Warner also believes that a good fit is something or somewhere that makes you appreciate where you have come from and look forward to where you are going. Leaving the United States has brought her to this place. “The easiest route is not what I consider the best fit. Moving to Canada has given me the space to reflect on the pride I take in my nationality; it has simultaneously given me a more global perspective, challenging me to leave my Midwestern bubble and enter the international sphere,” said Warner. “Thus, my journey to McGill University has taken me to a space that both welcomed me and inspired me, leading me towards a desire for action and thought.”
While leaving behind the United States was a huge leap of faith in a university, a city, and a country, it is a decision Warner does not regret. “McGill has successfully been a good fit in the sense that it is now my second home,” said Warner. “McGill is the perfect place to center my academic and personal development, and Montreal is the perfect place to continue becoming a more global individual.”
“It was my honor to award this scholarship to Camille for her dedication to finding her perfect fit,” said Baur. “We know what good fit means to us, and it’s great that she was able to find that in her university. Congratulations Camille!”
