The 2025 recipients are Yellowknife’s Aubrey Sluggett, Norman Wells’ Madison Menacho-Melnyk, and Symone Berube, who lives in Yellowknife but was born and raised in Fort Smith.
De Beers said the trio were “outstanding examples of why De Beers Group believes in advancing opportunities for women, particularly the fact that all three want to give back to the Northwest Territories after they complete their education.”
Sluggett is in the first year of a health science degree at the University of Waterloo, the diamond mining firm said. She is hoping to return to the North as a doctor specializing in women’s health.
Menacho-Melnyk studies environment and conservational sciences at Yukon University.
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“I will be the first person in my family to pursue post-secondary,” Menacho-Melnyk was quoted as saying. She said she wants to work on “environmental integrity for the current and future generations to pass on” in the North.
“Growing up in a smaller community I have had amazing opportunities but also limitations,” said Berube, who is studying neuroscience at York University.
“There is a whole world out there full of experiences and learning opportunities that I want to pursue and explore, and receiving this award will help me achieve these passions.”
De Beers operates the NWT’s Gahcho Kué diamond mine and is in the final stages of closing an earlier mine in the territory, Snap Lake.
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