Saskatoon student at Walter Murray awarded $100,000 scholarship

Walter Murray Collegiate Grade 12 student Drake Jordan was walking to his mom’s car, leaving his high school’s carnival, when he decided to open up an email that would launch him into the next phase of his life.

At first, Jordan thought he’d gotten a message simply providing an update on his Schulich Leadership Scholarship application.

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“I guess, maybe letting me know that I didn’t get the scholarship,” he said.

But, once he opened the email he realized it wasn’t a rejection. Instead, Jordan was awarded the scholarship, which comes with $100,000.

“It’s just absolutely surreal, just seeing that I’m still in disbelief to this day,” he said.

He’s one of 100 students chosen across the country.

According to Jordan, the first thought that raced his mind was, “how much pressure this was going to bring off me and my family going forward with my education.”

Jordan’s heading to the University of Toronto where he’ll study computer science.

His passion for creating software began back in Grade 5, when he convinced his teacher to play Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference on the big screen for the entire class to watch.

That’s when Jordan said he learned about the various apps people were making, the programming languages behind these apps, and the impacts those innovations could have.

Years later, as Jordan was starting high school, he decided to submit his own app project, named Sway, to the Apple Swift Student Challenge.

Sway, “helped people understand a neurological condition called synesthesia, which I have, which is where two senses get combined in the brain, and then they end up triggering each other,” he said.

Jordan explained how he has trouble explaining synesthesia to people with words.

“So, I wanted to make an app that made it easy for people to experience that themselves,” he continued.

Ultimately, Jordan was one of the challenge’s winners, and as a result got to connect and share his project with Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Cook offered advice to Jordan, telling him to continuously look for ways to innovate and leave an impact.

Jordan’s taken that advice seriously and years later his goal after university is to either start his own company or work for one where he can lead a team in making software, “that really impacts the lives of others in positive way,” he said.

“My passion is really in creating software that enriches the lives of others, and that’s something I hope to do with this scholarship,” Jordan said.

For those still in high school, Jordan’s advice is to avoid doing things for the sake of looking good on an application.

Instead, “pursue what your real passions are,” he said.

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