NWT resident Cassie Rogers will receive a $2,500 scholarship from Curling Canada to help her complete a degree in environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Rogers, who began her first year at the university at the start of September, has represented the territory at Canada’s under-18 and under-21 national championships.
She began curling at the age of nine in Yellowknife.
“The first big tournament I went to was Arctic Winter Games trials when I was in Grade 8. I really, really liked the competitive aspect of it,” Rogers told Cabin Radio last week.
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“We didn’t do very well – I don’t think we won a game – but my team worked really hard. The following year, we went to U18 nationals and that was so much fun, with kids from all the other provinces and territories. I decided that was what I wanted to continue doing.”
Nick Saturnino, president of the NWT Curling Association, said he believed Rogers was the first territorial recipient of Curling Canada’s For the Love of Curling scholarship.
This year, 11 out of 71 applicants were selected to receive the award.
“These are deserving recipients who amplify the values of sportsmanship, community and integrity,” Curling Canada chief executive Katherine Henderson said in a news release announcing the recipients.
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“Our sport is in good hands with these future leaders of the game.”
Rogers says the precision involved in curling keeps her coming back.
“You have to calculate the strategy of your shots so far in advance. I really like memorizing all the strategy and figuring out how my team and the other team are going to play, and how we’ll play to our strengths and a little bit to their weaknesses,” she said.
“I also like the community of it. Everyone has always been super nice and my team-mates are the best I could ask for. The rink at home really feels like a second home.”
That fondness for precision may have helped her toward environmental engineering, too.
“I like the renewable energy aspect of environmental engineering. I hope to be on projects where I can help create new sustainable technologies or retrofit older sustainable technologies,” Rogers said.
“I hope I can go back to the North for a while to work, not only in Yellowknife but hopefully see a bit more of the territory.”
