The Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary Award
About the Welding Bursary Award
Potential APPLICANTS -
Welcome to The Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary Award page, thank you for your interest! My mission is to make annual grants in support of students who want to pursue welding at the post-secondary level within the province of Ontario. This program was established entirely by my own funds and I am thrilled to support an Ontario student or more, each year and be a part of their quest as they enter into a lifelong journey in welding!
Key dates for the 2024 Bursary Awards:
Application opens March 1st, 2024 and closes June 30th, 2024.
Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by July 30th, 2024.
Payment will be made to the successful applicant's educational institution upon confirmation of enrollment.
The application page for this award is hosted by the Canadian Welding Bureau's Welding Foundation.
I am grateful to the CWB Welding Foundation for supporting my cause and hosting the landing page for the application process. The CWB Welding Foundation's vision is to support the welding industry in having sustainable labour supply of welding professionals and skilled tradespeople that contribute to our economic prosperity. They envision a future where all individuals are encouraged and provided support needed to reach their true potential in a career in welding regardless of identity factors, social and financial status and lived experiences including gender, age, ethnicity, language, literacy, culture and geographical location. To learn more about the CWB and the Foundation, you can visit them here: http://www.cwbweldingfoundation.org/about-us/who-we-are
Potential DONORS -
Won’t you join me in sustaining this important work by making a donation? All donations made through this site will receive a receipt for income tax purposes. I am committed to providing a bursary on an annual basis, both today as well as in perpetuity. Welding has been a huge part of my life and in the end will be my legacy, long after my years. It is with pride and joy that this Bursary program is born and I am excited to watch it grow, to hopefully provide an even greater benefit to its recipients in years to come.
About the founder, Nicole LeClair
I entered into the welding trade in 1998 and haven't looked back since. I am a Red Seal Welder/Fitter, a Welding Engineering Technologist (also an International Welding Technologist with the IIW), a level one visual Welding Inspector and now currently a Welding Professor. I thoroughly enjoy sharing my love of the trade with future welders and always try to mentor and advocate for youth to enter the trades, talking about what trades can offer and also dispelling myths that sadly still exist for those who want to enter a trade. There is ample opportunity to succeed in the trades, especially welding. It could be argued that a welder possesses the most transferrable skills because all trades have at least some aspect of welding; plumbers, millwrights and steamfitters for example all know how to weld. Welding is something that can never be replaced and will always be needed. From cars and bridges, to medical devices that save lives. Welding is all around us and something that is taken for granted. We are losing skilled workers through retirement and there simply aren't enough newly skilled people entering the welding workforce in order to sustain the work available. It is my hope that this foundation is a step taken to try to improve this statistic.
Article Daily Commercial News about the 2020 winners of this bursary:
https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/labour/2020/09/nicole-leclair-welding-bursary-award-winners-showcase-drive-and-passion
Article from WELD Magazine, Spring edition, 2019:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:Z0bBtUx6TCWoFuNdUxPE7A
Article from Metalworking Magazine, Feb 2019:
Podcast recorded at Mohawk College (30min), Feb 2019:
For questions or further inquiry, please feel free to contact me:
Nicole LeClair
chickwelder@yahoo.com
"STRIVE. PERSIST. BE IN IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART"
Thank you for your interest in my bursary. I am supporting future tradespersons' education on an annual basis. This foundation's mandate is to help close the gap that exists for employable skilled trades workers. For every 10 welders that retire, there is only 1 new welder coming into the workforce to replace them. Proper education and training is the only way to bring up this number!
The Nicole LeClair Welding Bursary provides grants annually to successful applicants in Ontario entering or attending post-secondary education in welding to minimize their financial burdens and to encourage and support the award recipient. The 2024 grants will be for four $2000 bursaries!
