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Gabe Routhier tells me it was “a while ago.”

But no matter how long ago it was, and it was actually 12 years ago, he will always remember, in great and graphic detail, his first day of classes at the Nova Scotia Community College in Halifax.

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He was 18, and a kid from Hubbards, an idyllic, seaside village about 40 minutes from the big city. He had never been away from home, or away from the watchful eye of his parents.

They cut me a cheque, right there

“I went to my first day of school and, back then, I didn’t really understand how the Shatford Trust worked, exactly. But I knew being from Hubbards that I was a recipient of it.

“I was in class when I heard my name over the public address. I thought: great. It is my first day and I am already in trouble. They called me down to the college director’s office, and now I am really getting worried. I am having flashbacks from high school.

“But then the director says, ‘Well, we received your money transfer from the Shatford fund. It has paid for all of your schooling, in total, including all of your books, and so here is a cheque for the remaining amount.’