When Katherine Gotovsky sees a problem, her response is immediate. The gears in her 17-year-old mind start working away, determined to come up with a solution whether it’s at school, retirement residences or in the tech industry.
She is one of six GTA students selected as Loran Scholars, an award which recognizes character, community contributions and future leadership potential.
From a pool of more than 5,000 applicants, 34 young Canadians were selected for the award valued at $100,000 over four years. The honour includes an annual stipend of $10,000, matching tuition waiver and access to $10,000 in funding for summer internships.
The other winners from the GTA are: Elektra Dakogiannis, Georgia Koep-Freifeld, Eden Wondmeneh, Lauren Prophet and John Milkovich.
The selection of a Loran Scholar focuses on the young person’s character with the belief that integrity, courage, grit and personal autonomy are better indicators of overall potential than standard academic measures.
Gotovsky, a University of Toronto Schools student, founded and leads a robotics team and the Girls in Tech conference. She teaches code to women and youth, plans initiatives for a national student organization and created her school’s foreign language newspaper. She established a companionship program at a retirement residence.
Most of her endeavours began with her desire to solve a problem, she said.
The Thornhill resident’s passion for solving problems began as a child when she would use her limited amount of Lego blocks to build elaborate and complex structures.
Gotovsky now helps others solve their problems by teaching code to women and girls at Canada Learning Code, a digital skills program.
Gotovsky plans on pursuing a degree in computer science at either McGill University or the University of Waterloo.