Submitted by Derek Lackey, CCRC Secretary
There's something special about a small rural school. Everyone knows everyone. Teachers remember your parents. Your classmates become lifelong friends. And when you come back years later, it still feels like home.
Just ask Mya O'Neil Johnston.
There's something special about a small rural school. Everyone knows everyone. Teachers remember your parents. Your classmates become lifelong friends. And when you come back years later, it still feels like home.
Just ask Mya O'Neil Johnston.
Image of Mya O'Neil Johnston receiving her bursary from Joanne Butland, with Principal Jeff Keirstead. When Mya walked back into Riverside Consolidated School recently to receive the annual Chipoudy Communities Revitalization Committee (CCRC) bursary, the memories came flooding back. Memories of friendship, kindness, and a school community that felt like family.
"Though it may be a small school, it is incredibly mighty in spirit," Mya says.
That mighty spirit is exactly what the CCRC bursary celebrates each year. The committee awards this scholarship to a deserving student who started their journey at the little K-5 school on Water Street in Riverside-Albert. This year, that student is Mya, who's pursuing her dream of becoming a registered nurse.
Image of Riverside Consolidated School and students taken by Adrienne Sharp. 
Can you find a face you know? "Receiving this bursary means so much to me, as it will help support my journey toward becoming a registered nurse," Mya explains. "I am incredibly grateful to be a recipient of this bursary and can't thank the CCRC enough for believing in me and my future education."
Principal Jeff Keirstead has seen countless students like Mya grow from kindergarteners into successful adults working in trades, health care, business, and the arts. He says community support, like the CCRC bursary, does more than just ease financial pressure.
"Community support, including the CCRC bursary, has helped make those pathways possible by reducing financial pressure and reminding students that their home community is behind them as they continue their learning," Keirstead notes. "Our current students see those graduates as role models, which inspires them to set goals of their own and to imagine futures that reach well beyond the walls of our small rural school."
That's the real magic of this bursary. It's not just about the money, though that certainly helps. It's about showing young people that their community believes in them. That the place they call home is cheering them on. That they can dream big, even from a small community in Albert County.
For Mya, those memories of Riverside Consolidated, the friendships, the support, the sense of belonging, will stay with her as she moves forward in her nursing career. And for current students at RCS, she'll be another example of what's possible when a small school with mighty spirit sends its graduates out into the world.
The Chipoudy Communities Revitalization Committee continues to invest in that spirit, one bursary at a time, proving that in rural New Brunswick, communities don't just raise children, they launch futures.
For more information about the CCRC and their community initiatives, visit chipoudycrc.org or contact Riverside Consolidated School at 506-882-3002.
Principal Jeff Keirstead has seen countless students like Mya grow from kindergarteners into successful adults working in trades, health care, business, and the arts. He says community support, like the CCRC bursary, does more than just ease financial pressure.
"Community support, including the CCRC bursary, has helped make those pathways possible by reducing financial pressure and reminding students that their home community is behind them as they continue their learning," Keirstead notes. "Our current students see those graduates as role models, which inspires them to set goals of their own and to imagine futures that reach well beyond the walls of our small rural school."
That's the real magic of this bursary. It's not just about the money, though that certainly helps. It's about showing young people that their community believes in them. That the place they call home is cheering them on. That they can dream big, even from a small community in Albert County.
For Mya, those memories of Riverside Consolidated, the friendships, the support, the sense of belonging, will stay with her as she moves forward in her nursing career. And for current students at RCS, she'll be another example of what's possible when a small school with mighty spirit sends its graduates out into the world.
The Chipoudy Communities Revitalization Committee continues to invest in that spirit, one bursary at a time, proving that in rural New Brunswick, communities don't just raise children, they launch futures.
For more information about the CCRC and their community initiatives, visit chipoudycrc.org or contact Riverside Consolidated School at 506-882-3002.
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