A promising young Salisbury student is poised to follow in some big footsteps after winning scholarship

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This year, the Harry M. McCrae Memorial Scholarship was awarded for the very first time. The scholarship is to be offered annually to a student in his or her final year at JMA Armstrong High School in Salisbury, who will be entering the Engineering Department of UNB.

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William Robinson, principal of JMA Armstrong, Ghislain Maillet, winner of the first Harry M. McCrae Memorial Scholarship, and Ben McRae, who establishe dthe scholarship in his father's name.

Ghislain Maillet, 17, is the first winner of the scholarship. Armour Mayes 'Ben' McCrae, a UNB engineering graduate in 1963, established the scholarship to honour both his father and his native community of Salisbury.

"I have very fond memories of my father and the community," he says. "My father was involved in a variety of businesses. He started out in the fox business, got into lumber, the broiler business, then the development business. All he did, he did with fairness, honesty, and integrity. He was a gentle, honest soul, who never raised his voice or his hand. I try to follow the principles of running a business that he had."

Ben is an extremely successful businessman in his own right, being the founder and chairman of the Armour Group Ltd. Amongst the Armour Group's success stories is the creation of Historic Properties in downtown Halifax. The meticulous restoration of waterfront buildings has made downtown Halifax and made it the showpiece it is today.

His nickname 'Ben' is one that he was given when he played football in high school in Salisbury, and it has stuck with him. Last year he attended his high school class reunion, which was held to mark the 50th anniversary of his own graduation.

"I'd thought about a scholarship for some time," he recalls, "and it seemed appropriate to me to make the commitment on the occasion of the reunion. It's to be awarded based on academic achievement, leadership abilities, and financial need."

JMA Armstrong High School principal William Robinson warmly welcomes the scholarship from the alumnus of Salisbury's high school, and says the school is truly grateful to Ben for "reaching out to help our young students attain their academic and professional goals."

Ghislain Maillet, this year's successful scholarship applicant, will be applying the $3,750 award to his expenses at UNB Fredericton this coming academic year.

"I would go to university even without the scholarship, but when they told me I had received it, that was great news because it means less debt," says Ghislain. "It was a good surprise."

Ghislain excels in math and sciences, his favourite subject being physics, and though he is looking forward to his first year at UNB, he says,

"It's going to be an adjustment, but I'll be learning lots of things I like."

His path to education in 2008 will be eased by a man who followed a similar path, from Salisbury to Fredericton, some 50 years ago, and who has not forgotten his past.

"Most of my former high school classmates still live in the Moncton area," Ben says, "and I still feel a connection to my roots there. It was my grandfather, Robert Armour Brown, who brought the first pair of silver foxes to Salisbury in 1913."

The Harry M. McCrae Memorial Scholarship in its inaugural year has already begun to connect the past with the future.