Northlands College held its third annual Northern Visionaries Gala at Eagle Point Resort near La Ronge on Saturday.
The evening showcased the top five entries for the Northern Visionaries video essay contest put on by the College.
The topic of the video essay this year was: “Choose a career field that you are interested in and imagine that you were in an advanced leadership role within that organization and field.”
Students were asked to explain their vision for the future of the industry they selected and how they would use their Northlands College education to be innovative and how to affect growth and change in a positive way.
The winner of the event this year was Bailey Mercredi of Fond-du-Lac. With the win, she earned a trip to New York City and a $2500 scholarship.
“I’m honestly overwhelmed right now, so excited — can’t wait to go to New York,” said Mercredi, shortly after she found out she won. Mecredi’s video was an emotional one, touching on the topic of suicide.
Jordan Robillard-Bird of La Ronge finished second, Ronald Charles of La Ronge came in third, April Robillard from Black Lake finished fourth and Hailey Cross of La Ronge rounded out the top five.
Forty-six people entered the contest this year, Brandi Bell with Northlands College admits that it was tough to judge the videos.
“It was incredibly hard, lots of touching stories about students’ passion and dreams for the North,” said Bell. “The top ten was pretty crazy, it was the strongest top ten we’ve probably had so far.”