Fort McMurray student wins $70K scholarship for bringing STEM lessons to rural communities

Ansh Ramani, a Fort McMurray student who won a prestigious scholarship for bringing STEM programs to rural communities. (Submitted)

A graduating student at Fort McMurray’s Westwood Community High School has won a prestigious $70,000 scholarship for his efforts in making science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs accessible to rural communities.

Ansh Ramani, 17, was one of 20 students to receive a national TD Scholarship for Community Leadership. When he first got the email that he had won – at midnight on April 1, 2026 – he thought it was an April Fool’s joke.

“I was about to sleep because I had a chem test the next day … I saw the notification, and the email title was something like, ‘Confidential,’” he said.

“I thought it might be some sort of prank, because it’s just really weird, out of all the days to release it … After checking if it was legitimate, I ran to my parents’ room and woke them up.”

Ramani will attend the University of Alberta in the fall to study cell biology. He hopes to eventually become a doctor.

His passion for the sciences began after watching his grandparents battle cancer at a young age.

“It sparked an interest in me to study science in general. Seeing people struggling in hospitals when they were having treatments done, it inspired me to also help people,” he said.

By Grade 9, Ramani had joined the STEM Fellowship Chapter, a national program that has local students deliver hands-on workshops to elementary students. The goal was to take some of the workload off of teachers who had passionate students, but not the resources.

“At the end of a (science) unit, we’ll come and we’ll teach a workshop to your students, so they can have more of a connection with what they learned. We looked at the Grade 4, 5 and 6 science curriculum … We created workshops for each individual unit,” he said.

“I think teachers are really helpful in letting us help them, because it’s an opportunity for the students to grow, and that was something really rewarding.”

He also spearheaded Connect Wood Buffalo, a broader community program that flew young students in from remote communities as far as three hours outside Fort McMurray. There, they were able to take advantage of his high school’s 3D printing and robotics resources.

“Fort McMurray is very interesting, because at one point in time we were considered the wealthiest community in all of Canada … There’s also the flip side of it. Fort McMurray has the highest of highs and lowest of lows,” he said.

“I’ve seen how people are unable to get certain opportunities, and we decided to do something about it.”

In working with students from remote areas, Ramani and his team were also able to convince students to start their own clubs.

With an upcoming move to Edmonton, Ramani is passing the baton to the rest of his team to keep the momentum going. But he says he’ll forever be grateful for the community he grew up in and the financial stability to support long hours of study.

He’s not done, though: “My new goal is to start something at the University of Alberta.”