Hougen Business & Community Service Award

Rolf and Margaret Hougen have been pillars of the North for their entire adult lives. In a book documenting their history, they provided advice to their own grandchildren and would like to share this advice with applicants for the scholarship:

Education is important and will give you an excellent foundation for all of your endeavours in the years ahead.  Build yourself into a person of integrity and trustworthiness, and ensure you have a reputation for honesty.  Seek advice from those around you but in the end make up your own mind.  When starting out in your career, be prepared to live simply until you can reduce your debts and are successful enough to afford some luxuries.

Rolf was the founder of many Yukon community organizations, including: the Young People’s Association, the first Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous event, and the Yukon Foundation. Nationally, Rolf chaired the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and co-founded the satellite delivery network Cancom, the first company in the world to provide a unique system to deliver radio and television to remote and underserved regions of Canada. Rolf is also a recipient of the Order of Canada. To this day, both Rolf and Margaret remain committed contributors to the arts community in the Yukon and to the preservation of the territory’s unique heritage.