From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Oct 30 2009 - 06:54:36 EST
ERIC HEINO
Oct 29, 2009 - 1:00 PM
Promising young students get scholarships
Almost half of the national scholarships given by the Black Business
Professional Association (BBPA) were awarded to promising young students
attending school in Toronto.
Of the 47 scholarships given on Oct. 22 at the RBC Royal Bank Auditorium, 22
recipients were locals. It was a testament to the number of bright young
students in Toronto's ethnic communities.
"I was excited and happy we are able to give 47 scholarships, but we still
had to turn away about 100 young people," said Harriet Thornhill, chair of
the BBPA National Scholarship Fund. "That sends a strong message of how we
as a community need to rally for our young people."
Despite a poor economic year for many of the fund's sponsors, it was
actually able to attract more sponsorships than ever before. Thornhill
attributes this to an increasing awareness that accessible university
education for young black students is the best way to invest in the future
of industry.
The scholarship fund was originally founded as the BBPA Harry Jerome
Scholarship Fund in 1986 with the mandate to support, promote and enable
achievement and personal excellence. They have been awarded to more
post-secondary students every year, totalling more than $1.3 million in
scholarships to date.
An example of the type of person the BBPA is looking for is Saron
Ghebressellassie, a scholarship recipient who has an impressive history of
community leadership and dedication to education.
As a young girl, Ghebressellassie fled her war-torn home in Eritrea with her
family.
Now 22 years old, she has been accepted into a PhD program at York
University and has a number of distinctions under her belt already. In high
school she started Student and Teachers Against Racism. She won the YMCA
Canada Peace Medal in 2000. She speaks five languages and hosts a radio
show. That's the short list of her accomplishments.
The $5,000 scholarship she received will help pay outstanding debts for her
master's degree and allow her to focus on her current projects.
"These scholarships are a way to help students that don't have the money to
go to university, but they still don't address the structural problems that
exist in our community," said Ghebressellassie.
For information on how to apply for next year's scholarships, visit
www.bbpa.org/newsite/
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