ONE City Celebrates Toronto’s Best Good News Story: Its High School Graduates
The ONE City Scholarship Fund congratulates all of Toronto’s high school graduates this spring on reaching this important milestone in their education. “These are individual achievements, but they are also achievements for the students’ families and communities,” says Will Wallace, Chair of the ONE City Scholarship Fund. “In addition, these achievements represent the very real potential for Toronto to grow and develop,” he continues.
“We cannot underestimate the capacity of the young people who are graduating high school this spring; they are remarkable,” says Monica de Jersey, a teacher at Downsview Secondary School and a founding member of ONE City.
In that spirit, ONE City is happy to announce the awarding of four $2500 scholarships to Toronto District School Board students who are graduating this spring. Their examples demonstrate the astonishing resilience, tenacity, optimism and brilliance that are characteristic of so many of the young people graduating in all areas of Toronto.
The four winners have faced obstacles and yet have excelled. Each of them has demonstrated their understanding that their success is closely tied to making contributions in their community.
“With young people like this in our city, how can we lose?” says Wallace, a teacher at Downsview Secondary.
The ONE City Scholarship provides financial and moral support so that winners can work a little less and focus on their studies and the other aspects of post-secondary life a little more, providing them the opportunity to continue their pursuit of excellence.
This is the first year for ONE City to provide scholarships. “We were blown away by the level of commitment and dedication of all the candidates, and especially our four winners,” says Lisa Garby, a teacher at Central Tech, and also a founding member.
The winners are Esmat Sahak and Hajar Seiyad of Marc Garneau CI, Nathan Devlin of East York Alternative, and Naqeeb Barak of Jarvis CI.
The ONE City Scholarship Fund is an initiative of TDSB educators and their community partners in support of remarkable students. ONE City encourages all educators to join to build the Fund. Its mandate includes supporting students with scholarships and other supports, communicating with the broader Toronto community about the awesome potential of our youth, and letting Toronto’s youth, especially those from challenging backgrounds, know that we want them to succeed.
The Fund is administered by Toronto Foundation, a community foundation that enables the philanthropy of individuals, families and groups across the city.
The ONE City Scholarship Fund is supported by Toronto Foundation for Student Success and is led by educators.
WHEN WE REACH ACROSS THE BARRIERS THAT DIVIDE US, WE BECOME ONE CITY.
Contact: Will Wallace – 416-859-6552 onecityfundinfo@gmail.com www.onecityfund.com
