Two graduating students were honoured with a scholarship in support of trades education at the Laurentian Regional High School (LRHS) graduation ceremony on Saturday, October 4.

The Richard J. McAlpine Technical Scholarship was established by the McAlpine family in 2018 in memory of the longtime Dalesville resident, who died in 2017. Since that time, the scholarship has been given annually to support an LRHS grad who has enrolled in a trade or technical program.

For the first time this year, the trustees of the scholarship selected both a winner and a runner-up. This year’s winner of the $1,000 award is Jack Kuhnel, of Dalesville, who has enrolled in a welding fabrication program. The runner-up, who received a $500 voucher for specialized clothing and equipment, is Cedric Vanier, of Lachute, who is studying to become an electrician.

A plumber by trade, McAlpine’s career saw him take on a wide variety of work including factory management, project oversight, and even inventing. While working for a firehose manufacturing company in the 1980s, he developed a new production system, ultimately patenting the process in more than 30 countries.

“My father was always a champion of the trades,” noted McAlpine’s son, Michael McAlpine, who followed in his father’s footsteps and now works in water purification. “He felt that not only is a trade a well-paying and rewarding career path, but it can also be a way of entering any number of fields.”

The family founded the scholarship as a way to honour McAlpine’s memory and to encourage local young people to pursue technical studies, an area high school students aren’t always informed about or given the means to follow.

“Besides supporting a student financially, we hope that this scholarship will raise awareness of the trades as a viable career option for people coming out of high school,” explained Susan McAlpine, McAlpine’s wife.

The scholarship trustees were impressed with the hard work, ingenuity, and desire to give back to their communities demonstrated by both award winners. “We had strong applications this year, and we felt that both of these candidates were particularly outstanding, so we were happy to be able to support both,” said daughter Heather McAlpine.

In his application, Kuhnel wrote about admiring his grandfather’s ability to “fix everything that the family broke and make it just as good or even better.” He said he chose welding because “I enjoy fabrication and more difficult hands-on work, building and making new things that can benefit both myself and other people’s everyday lives.”

For his part, Vanier said he has always been curious about how things work and is driven to innovate: “When I see an opportunity to learn something new, I am always interested in seeing how much I can challenge myself and do it on my own.”

The awards were presented on the family’s behalf this year by close friend Chris Aung-Thwin, whose remarks remembered McAlpine’s work ethic, perfectionism, and punctuality. Praising the award winners, he commented, “we live in a world that could use more builders, more fixers.”