Ernest and Bernice Smith Award in Engineering

The Ernest and Bernice Smith Award in Engineering is awarded to a first-year Engineering student who ranks highest academically overall after a full year of common courses and is continuing in the Engineering program. This award was established to honor Ernest and Bernice Smith, who were deeply committed to education and supported their own family members through post-secondary schooling. Ernest Smith was a professional forester and engineering graduate from the University of New Brunswick (1934), while Bernice Smith was a graduate nurse. The award reflects their belief in the value of higher education, forged during difficult times in the 1930s when Ernest built a tar-paper shack in the woods to complete his degree, ultimately graduating as the top student in his class. After their retirement to PEI, the Smiths planned this gift to assist young people in pursuing university studies.