A unique scholarship administered jointly by University of Regina federated colleges Campion and Luther gives Grade 11 students from Hungarian Catholic and Lutheran schools an opportunity to spend a summer experiencing Canadian culture.
The scholarship was established in 2001 by Anna Kovacs in honour of her late husband Martin, a U of R professor who died in 2000. Anna died in 2014 and left a $1-million endowment for the Martin Kovacs Scholarship Fund ensuring the future of the scholarship, said Dr. Bryan Hillis President of Luther and Dr. John Meehan S.J. President of Campion in a joint release.
Since 2001 54 Grade 11 students from Hungary have benefited from the scholarship including four who attended this year; two from Fasori Lutheran School and two from Piarist Catholic School. The four, Marton Bajor and Milalovits Mark from Piarist School, Rita Horvath and Lorent Gabor from Fasori arrived in Regina June 29 and witnessed and took part in Canada Day celebrations. “It was a good start for us,” said Bajor. He was surprised at the few numbers of pedestrians. “It’s all about cars. In Hungary people walk and enjoy the parks.” Besides classes on local history including that of First Nations and the Treaties, they toured various sites and museums in Regina and visited Echo Lake one of the Calling Lakes in the Qu’Appelle Valley where they learned more about First Nations. They also attended the Queen city Exhibition which was a favourite of all four. Horvath found the city’s short history the most interesting. “It is so different from Hungary.” Gabor also noted the differences with Hungary but was pleased at the opportunity to improve his English. Mark was surprised and pleased at how friendly were the people they met. “We went to a store and the people approached us like we were long time friends and I thought ‘wow, this is so nice. It was such a positive thing.”
Bajor said he would like to have had more opportunities to really get to know more people. “People were friendly and kind and we talked about the weather and food but I would have liked to learn more about them,” he said during an interview with all four. All were able to converse in English before arriving in Canada, albeit with some difficulty, but two days before leaving Canada all felt their English had improved very well which received an approving nod from one of their teachers.
The four were housed in the Luther College student residence.
The two Lutheran students attended Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and the Catholic students attended St. Anne’s. Both churches are near the U of R. campus.
