Huge congrats to Eric Li, winner of the 2024 Darren L. Buium scholarship! The scholarship is worth $1,500, generously provided by EECOL Electric. Let's meet the lucky recipient!

Meet Eric, our 2024 recipient

Eric's from Calgary, Alberta, but he's crossing the country to pursue his education in Ontario, at the University of Waterloo — one of Canada's best schools for his program of interest: software engineering.

"Whenever I sat down to create little university pros-and-cons lists this year," Eric reflects, "the school that ticked all my preferred boxes for student life, future opportunities, and offered programs was the University of Waterloo."

Unfortunately, the main drawback to Waterloo, for Eric as a Calgarian, was cost.

"Being admitted into Waterloo was simultaneously one of the best moments of my life," Eric says. It was also "the beginning of an arduous month filled with hours upon hours of staring at spreadsheets and online tuition calculators, trying to figure out whether attending my dream school would even be worth it."

In the end, Eric took "a leap of faith" and accepted his offer to study at the University of Waterloo, "resolving to work hard before, during, and after university to pay off" his student loans.

Eric knows a thing or two about hard work: in high school, he co-founded his own hackathon, "CTRL Hacks", that drew in over 100 participants, and he develops Android and Python apps in his spare time.

The Darren L. Buium Scholarship

This scholarship is modeled and inspired by its namesake, former EECOL president Darren L. Buium, who believes that if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. The award is meant to support a first-year engineering or construction student, to reduce the burden of financial need and make education more accessible.

For Eric, receiving the Darren L. Buium scholarship "also feels like a validation of my ambition and the risks I've taken," Eric says. "Thank you to EECOL Electric for honouring me with this scholarship. Your financial support will help me complete my degree and fulfill my goal of starting a career in technology and engineering, perhaps as a data scientist or software engineer." Though he's not 100% sure where his career will take him, he feels "like all the doors are wide open."

About EECOL Electric

EECOL Electric is one of Canada's leading electrical product distributors, offering the electrical community with access to end-to-end inventory of quality brand-named manufacturers' comprehensive electrical solutions and quality staff. With a network of over 60 locations across Western Canada, EECOL's reach spans across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Yukon and the Northwest Territories where they continuously strive to deliver quality customer service alongside solutions for clients' electrical needs.

Once again, enormous thanks to EECOL Electric for making the Darren L. Buium scholarship available to students. And a big congratulations to Eric, our 2024 recipient! To the EECOL team, he offers his sincere thanks: "From the bottom of my heart, thank you," Eric concludes.

Thanks to everyone who applied this year, and congrats, Eric!