Iqaluit teen wins scholarship

An Iqaluit high school student recently became the first in Nunavut to win a prestigious scholarship from the Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation.

Ashley Tufts won a scholarship worth $75,000 for four years of university study.

Foundation officials said they picked Ashley because she has leadership potential, entrepreneurial energy as well as academic excellence.

Tufts was a youth representative with the Department of Justice and the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention in Nunavut. She counsels youth and is a board member of Kamatsiaqtut Baffin Crisis Line.

Tufts is also president of the student council and the graduate editor of the Inuksuk High School yearbook. She coaches speed skating, and competed in the sport at the Arctic Winter Games and Canada Games.