A prestigious national scholarship is being awarded to a local student.

Krish Shah is one of 20 individuals across the country receiving the $70,000 TD Bank Community Leadership Scholarship.

It’s given to those who support change, nurture progress and contribute to making the world a better place.

Shah is a co-founder of EcoYOLO, a student-based environmental group, created shortly after the Horse River wildfire.

The group was able to collect around $17,000 in corporate sponsorships which they used to help plant hundreds of trees.

“First of all, it’s insane that I even got honoured with this scholarship in the first place — all the credit goes to my family, friends, teachers, and mentors who supported me, and of course, thank you to TD for their commitment to youth in Canada,” said Shah.

“This scholarship allows me to go to university without any worry about finances. Now I get to worry about the more important things: the problems that the world is facing, how to solve them, and how to meet the right people that will help me do that.”

Shah will be attending the University of Waterloo where he’ll be studying software engineering.

He’s hoping to learn more about how technology can be used to make the world a better.

“Krish has been a change agent for our community since he was in junior high at McTavish,” added Cynthia Shelley, Principal of Westwood.

“He is incredibly inspiring as a youth community builder. He has been involved with Student Voice through various levels of student engagement: Westwood’s Student Council, the RMWB’s Mayor’s Advisory on Youth and even on the provincial level with the Minister’s Youth Council.”

Shah’s scholarship announcement comes days after fellow grade 12 student Saptarshi Bhattacharya was awarded the $100,000 Schulich Leaders Award.