On Thursday, November 20, four Asper School of Business students were honoured with 2014 Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Achievement Awards:

• Brayden Curtis Harper – Business Entrepreneurship Award
• Ashley Richard – 20th Anniversary Award
• Karine Sabourin – Athletic Senior Award
• Zachariah Unrau – Personal Achievement Award

All four students are members of Aboriginal Business Education Partners at the Asper School. Brayden, Karine and Zachariah are also members of the Asper Co-operative Education Program.

The Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Achievement Awards is held annually to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of Indigenous youth in culture, employment, traditional lifestyle, business and academic excellence. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the awards.

More Info

• Other U of M MAYAA recipients: UM Today story
• Interview with Ashley Richard: CBC News
• Manitoba Youth Achievement Awards (MAYAA) homepage
• Photos from the award ceremony

About the Recipients

BRAYDEN CURTIS HARPER, PEGUIS FIRST NATION

Third-year Marketing major Brayden Harper took a semester abroad to further his studies in social enterprise development and corporate social responsibility at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England.  His areas of interest are international business, marketing, sustainability, and Aboriginal entrepreneurship.

Brayden volunteers with seniors at Park Manor, with an at risk boys group at Siloam Mission and at Winnipeg Harvest.

He also was a vendor this past summer at the West Kildonan Farmers’ Market and gave back to the community by using the proceeds from his business to purchase food donations for Winnipeg Harvest for this fall.

ASHLEY RICHARD, METIS

Second-year Asper student Ashley Richard has overcome huge obstacles in her teens including close family deaths, homelessness and a serious accident from which she recovered.

After the death of her grandmother, she returned home to Winnipeg and began attending the Asper School of Business.

She won the Pauline & Roger Presland scholarship for $15,000/year and still works part time as she works toward her commerce degree.

This coming January she will be studying in France as part of
the Asper International Exchange Program.

Hear her story on CBC News.

KARINE SABOURIN, METIS

Fourth-year Finance major Karine Sabourin was recognized with achieving ABEP’s top grade point average for the 2013/14 academic year. She maintained a 4.07 GPA across 85 credit hours.

Karine played on the under 19 Team Canada West National ringette team at the World Ringette Championships.

She also volunteers as a coach and assistant coach for elementary and middle year’s school teams. Karine’s commitment to academics, athletics and community is evident in her level of commitment.

ZACHARIAH UNRAU, METIS

In 2012 Zachariah was the recipient of the GE Scholar-Leaders Program in Canada. The GE Scholar-Leaders Program is an elite scholarship provided to the brightest Aboriginal students in pursuit of an education in either business or engineering. There were only two recipients chosen from universities across Canada.

Zachariah, a fourth-year Asper student majoring in Human Resource Management/Industrial Relations, is actively involved with the Association of Aboriginal Commerce students and is a vital senior mentor in the ABEP program. He is working towards being a trailblazer for Aboriginal people.

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