Only In Thunder Bay…

When coming to Thunder Bay there are a few things that you should know about. To someone like me, who has lived their entire life in Thunder Bay, a lot of things are just the norm… and sometimes we forget that people from other areas don’t quite know what we are talking about! Here’s a couple of things that you will see and/or hear only in Thunder Bay!

Camp: You might refer to it as the cabin or the lake, but if you have a house away from home that you visit in the summer to go swimming, quadding, hiking, and the like, we call it “camp”!

Persian: Nope, not the people, the gulf, or the place. In Thunder Bay, a persian is a delicious cinnamon bun -like pastry with strawberry icing on the top. They are sold at specialty bakeries in town, but you can also get them at local grocery stores, and even in the cafeteria!

Sally Ann: Similarly, the Sally Ann is also a Thunder Bay dessert. Though they are a bit harder to find and less popular than the persian, Sally Ann’s are just as delicious! They consist of a vanilla/chocolate cake filled with buttercream icing, they smothered in chocolate icing. As I write this, I am starting to crave one… (PS – “Sally Ann” also sometimes refers to the Salvation Army thrift store)

Port Arthur and Fort William: Prior to 1970, Thunder Bay was comprised of two smaller cities called Port Arthur and Fort William. On January 1, 1970, the two cities became one – Thunder Bay. However, the northern side is still commonly referred to as Port Arthur, and the south Fort William (and Westfort). If you hear some friends talking about going to either area, now you know they aren’t talking about some far away land!

Pickerel: aka a Walleye, aka a small pike. The actual and correct term is under wide debate, but most people call this freshwater fish a Pickerel. Our cousins over the border in the US call it Walleye more often, which is probably where all the controversy comes from. (Yeah, controversy about a fish… welcome to Thunder Bay!)

Shag: I’ve never heard this term anywhere else but Thunder Bay. Essentially a shag is a big party thrown a few months before a couple gets married; they raffle off prizes, sell food and drinks, and celebrate with family and friends, using all the proceeds to help pay for their wedding. They are very popular here in Thunder Bay, and because they are almost always open to the public, a lot of students like to check them out! Our neighbors in the south like to call them a “stag and doe.”

I’m probably missing a ton of other terms, so don’t think this list is inclusive! Like I said, a lot of the Thunder Bay “lingo” is just normal to me, and I often don’t realize that others don’t always use the same terms we do!

Anyways, I hope you are loving Thunder Bay if you’re here for the 2016-17 year… and if you’re not here yet, I hope you’ll check us out soon!

Go To Lakehead For Free…

Have you heard about Lakehead University’s amazing entrance scholarships? If you haven’t, you should, because these are amazing scholarships that make your decision to come to Lakehead even easier.
Lakehead University’s Entrance scholarships are awarded to students – international and domestic – with no application required! Just by applying to Lakehead you are automatically entered into receiving these scholarships. These scholarships, which can be extremely beneficial to students looking into financial aid or simply not wanting to have to pay for their education, are solely based upon High School marks (in your final year of High School – grade 12 here in Canada).

Here are the levels for domestic (Canadian) students, which can be found in more detail here:

(Yes.. that says FREE tuition…!)

When I graduated from my local high school here in Thunder Bay, I received the second tier (90-94.9%) and it was any amazing help to me. I received $2,500 per year, and that was before my other scholarships. In the end, I ended up paying very little for my first four years at University because of this scholarship and some others that I have received. Of course all of these scholarships do require you to maintain a specific average – free tuition requires you to maintain a 90% average in University throughout your four years, and the others require an 80% average. Unless in high school you were on the very cusp of these averages, I wouldn’t worry too much about losing the scholarship. My grades dropped only about 2-3% from high school to University, and in my upper years, my average only increased. I never really stressed about losing my scholarship, and I only know a few people who lost their’s.

Note that these scholarships are also unlimited – meaning there is no “cap” to the number of students that can receive them. If you got within these averages in high school and are coming to Lakehead, these scholarships will automatically be applied to reduce your tuition amount.

Of course there are options for you international students, as well! Lakehead University international students are also automatically entered in to receive entrance scholarships, however these scholarships are limited in number and are at different amounts than those above. You can find more information on the Lakehead University International student entrance scholarships right here!

The entrance – and other scholarships – I received from Lakehead University were just one of the many reasons that I decided to come to Lakehead. I applied to a few other Universities here in Ontario, and none of them offered such a high value scholarship… some didn’t mention one at all! I am so happy that I decided to come to Lakehead and am so blessed to be able to have the majority of my education paid for (because of my hard work and diligence in applying for other scholarships, of course)!

My biggest tip for you High Schoolers reading this blog and thinking of coming to Lakehead is to try to get your marks as high as possible in high school. Hard work in your final year of high school can have a long lasting effect on not only your whole University life, but your entire life (no loans)! So work hard, keep your nose in the books, and it’ll pay off!

Some other scholarships you may want to consider are listed below. I was blessed to be able to receive the Northwestern Ontario & Simcoe County scholarship when I graduated high school (although the value was different at that time), further funding my education.

Have any questions? Contact Student Awards and Financial Aid! Also, if you’re a current Lakehead student, don’t forget that the In-Course bursaries application is due Oct 15! 🙂

**NOTE: these entrance scholarship amounts and requirements are for the 2017-18 academic year, and details may change, or the scholarship(s) may not longer be available, for other years**