Beedie funding a big help to talented B.C. students
105 recipients to receive scholarships in Round 2 of Luminaries program
A recipient of the first round of the Beedie Luminaries Scholarship Program for financially disadvantaged post-secondary students is grateful for the help with college expenses.
“If I didn’t get it, I would be struggling with paying for school,” said Linda Chobang, who is in her first year at Douglas College, studying political science with plans to go into law or the civil service. “I would have got a student loan.”
Chobang, whose family of eight immigrated to Canada from wartorn Sudan in 2010, was among 80 scholarship recipients in the program’s inaugural year.
She is 18 and the second-oldest child in her family. He father, who works on construction sites, was the only one who spoke English when they arrived in Canada.
“It was kind of hard at the time because we didn’t speak English and we stayed at a welcome house (for refugees),” Chobang said.
Chobang graduated from Cariboo Hill Secondary, where she was a mentor to an elementary school student. She works parttime at Playland, having got her start working at the PNE during the summer, and contributes to groceries and gas for the family.
She applied for the scholarship when it was announced a year ago and was surprised to get an interview and then a scholarship of up to $10,000 for each of the four years she expects to take to earn her degree at Douglas, then university.
Grade 12 students “should apply and not to be scared they’re not going to make it,” Chobang said.
The scholarship program was set up by developer and philanthropist Ryan Beedie, who while growing up in Burnaby saw “friends who did not have the same opportunities to attend post-secondary education as he did,” according to a news release announcing the program’s expansion.
This year, there are 105 available scholarships, worth $4.2 million, and the eligibility has been expanded from Metro Vancouver to the entire province.
“Financial hardship should not stop talented British Columbians from pursuing higher education and realizing their full potential,” Beedie said in the release.
Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents (for at least three years) living full-time in B.C. in Grade 12 with a Grade 11-12 grade average of 75 per cent and be applying to enrol full-time in one of B.C.’s 25 public post-secondary institutions (university, college or trade school).
The applicant’s family must demonstrate financial adversity and the applicant should show how it has affected him or her.
Nour Suliman, 20, whose family of six immigrated from Syria in 2016, is attending the Health Sciences program at Langara College on the Beedie scholarship, with plans to become a doctor or surgeon one day.
“No way” would she be able to afford post-secondary school without the help, said Suliman, who lives in East Vancouver and graduated from Sir Charles Tupper Secondary.
“I was shocked when I got the phone call” with the news, she said. “I almost was crying. I was very happy.”
In the first year, about a quarter of recipients were the first in their family to pursue post-secondary education, 38 per cent came from single-family homes, and 60 per cent live in rental housing, the program said.
The recipients are eligible for up to $40,000 and paid summer internships and are also given access to mentors, student support and the Beedie Luminaries online community.
The deadline for applications (available at Beedie Luminaries. ca) is Jan. 20 and recipients will be announced in May.
The program is a registered foundation and a non-profit society.