"Mikaela is a leader... she saw not just a problem, but a solution."

That from Corey Hildebrand, outgoing Winkler Community Foundation scholarship chair after announcing 17-year-old Mikaela Warkentin has been awarded the $20,000 Make It A Reality Scholarship based on her incredible commitment to community service, resilience in navigating barriers, and proven leadership.

"When I got that call I started crying," Warkentin says. "I was overjoyed to hear I got it. For me, it means I can go to university."

Warkentin rallied the community of Osterwick around the local rink, leading fundraising efforts to build a new $4,000 warming shack. She's credited with creating the committee, organizing fundraiser events, and securing sponsors before seeing the project completed.

She is now the fourth student to receive the prestigious scholarship, as the Winkler Community Foundation fields numerous applications from aspiring post-secondary students each year.

With the scholarship secured, Warkentin explains she hopes to receive her education degree and become a teacher and one day impact her students the way her own teachers and mentors have.

The scholarship is made possible thanks to the bequest of former pharmacist Gordon Wiebe. His $2.2 million gift in 2015 established the Gordon Wiebe Education Fund, helping make post-secondary a reality for local youth.

"We felt Mikaela embodied the hope Gordon Wiebe placed in our students with his generous bequest," Hildebrand says.

Viola Enns Woelk will be taking over the chair position from Hildebrand and says the scholarships are an investment in the community's future and says it's gratifying to see the first recipients return home to serve Winkler with their education.

"They're showing our community how they're going to help lead, we're looking forward to that."

Warkentin lead a committee to raise funds for a new warming shack