With the rising cost of education and many students forced to move or commute to pursue post-secondary, the Winkler Community Foundation has created a game-changing scholarship.

Grade 12 Garden Valley Collegiate student Bailey Neufeld is the first recipient of the $20,000 Make it a Reality Scholarship.

"I was very shocked, it feels kind of surreal," Neufeld says. "It took a couple of weeks to really sink in."

Thanks to the support, Neufeld will be able to pursue post-secondary education in psychology with an aim possibly start a career as a school psychologist.

"I just really have a drive to help other people," he says. "It's a career focused around my interests and then I can just be there to support other people and their well-being."

Despite being an introvert and being a nervous grade nine student, Neufeld says he eventually became involved in student council and found he enjoyed it.

"Some people enjoy playing sports and enjoy that engagement, I find my engagement in helping others or working alongside people," he says.

Neufeld also started a peer-helpers group to help combat the anxiety and depression many students face in high school, "that's often overlooked," he says.

The Make it a Reality award was created this year to represent the "very best of our community, a giving spirit and commitment to leadership and excellence in their pursuits," Winkler Community Foundation Project Manager Karina Cardona Claros explains.

Neufeld was praised for his work on student council, Youth in Philanthropy, theatrical productions, mission work and Sunday school leader at his church, all while staying on the honour roll at school.

"It was the amount of community service that he'd already put it, it was really substantial, really interesting things he'd done, very much a self-starter," Scholarship Committee Member Gary Gilmour explains.

This unique award is possible thanks to the bequest of former Winkler pharmacist, Gordon Wiebe. In 2015, his gift of $2.2 million established the Gordon Wiebe Education Fund.

"I think Gordon would be very happy with the way the fund is set up," Gilmour says.

In total, there are 12 on-going scholarships to be announced, along with 16 scholarships divided between Winkler's two high schools.