Partners and Community

The Trotter Montgomery Picard Scholarship

Value $500 (for each of 3 students)

The Trotter Montgomery Picard Scholarship funded by Study Smart helps students with diagnosed or student-reported learning challenges identify their strengths and needs and obtain educational resources not available in the classroom. This scholarship is dedicated to five exceptional individuals who impacted the personal and professional development of many people;

Joanne Trotter, Chris Montgomery, Rene Picard, Patrick Montgomery and Andrieana Montgomery

The application for this scholarship will open from Sept. 2027 – March 2028.

Joanne was known for her capacity to coach and mentor employees and leaders throughout her successful career in a variety of human resources senior management positions. Joanne always saw the best in everyone and her genuine interest in others and passion for giving back to those less fortunate led to her wide network of friends, family and community followers.

Chris touched the lives of hundreds of students and teachers as a high school teacher, head of the English department and as President of the OECTA teachers union. Developing strong relationships with his colleagues, students, children and grandchildren contributed to his positive influence on others.

Rene impacted everyone he connected with, especially his children, grandchildren, friends and colleagues. Rene believed that all goals were achievable despite an individual’s age, ability or environmental factors. He was an amazing skilled tradesman and generously shared his knowledge and experience with anyone who expressed the desire to learn from him.

Patrick served as a teacher within the Durham Catholic District School Board, supporting diverse learners in inclusive classroom settings. Beyond the classroom, he devoted countless hours to coaching and mentoring young athletes, inspiring them to pursue their full potential.

Andrieana was a teacher in Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, specializing in Art education and Indigenous studies. Her warmth, creativity, and positive spirit enriched her teaching and empowered students of all identities to learn in ways that reflected their strengths.

In honor of these five admirable individuals, this scholarship is intended to support three high school students who have faced and overcome an academic, learning or personal challenge. Challenges and failures are inevitable but success depends on how these obstacles are encountered, what is learned from them and how they impact the lives of others. Basketball player Michael Jordan said that, “I failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed”. He also said, “I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying”.

Educational support is sometimes difficult to obtain without a medical diagnosis or educational assessment. Therefore, each recipient of this award will receive a screening test and/or a diagnostic educational assessment to help them identify their academic and learning strengths and needs, interests, learning preferences and motivational tendencies. A learning plan will then be generated based on the results of the assessments with suggested resources that may support the student’s needs. Resources could include tutoring, academic coaching, educational software, or accommodation supplies. The student may use their $500 scholarship to obtain one of these resources or another educational resource of their choice.

Entering Grade 11 or 12
Diagnosed or student-reported learning challenge
Financial need
Canadian citizen

There are three requirements for applicants of this scholarship:

Each applicant will use a creative medium to describe an academic or personal challenge they faced and how they were able to use their strengths to overcome this challenge. Examples of creative mediums could include video, podcast, image, drawing, song, poem or other creative formats.
Each applicant will also share the type of educational resources they would like to obtain with the scholarship and describe how these resources will help them continue to succeed.
A referral from a teacher, school or community representative who is familiar with the applicant’s learning challenge will be requested during the final selection period.

Partners & Sponsors

One of Study Smart’s key priorities is to make quality education accessible to all learners. This depends on a community of dedicated educators with similar goals. Therefore, we welcome partnership opportunities with community and educational organizations who support the diverse needs of learners. We also want to acknowledge our current and past partnerships and sponsors whose support has been instrumental in enabling us to develop and deliver a wide variety of services and resources.