Marcia Yale and Betty Nobel
Co-Chairs, Scholarship Committee
On behalf of the Scholarship Committee and my Co-Chair, Betty Nobel, I would like to introduce you to the nine amazing students who were awarded scholarships this year. They embody the spirit of diversity and academic excellence which we strive to encourage. This year, three of our scholarships are dedicated to members who are no longer with us--though their legacies will live forever.
John Rae Memorial Scholarship - Zachary Abdalla
Our Toronto Chapter has dedicated a $1,000 scholarship in memory of John Rae, one of the Chapter’s long-time members who passed away suddenly in April of 2022. John was a true advocate, someone who firmly believed in our ability to positively make changes to improve the lives of blind Canadians. He was involved in many disability organizations, where he influenced decision making processes which resulted in the provision of better conditions for folks who needed extra support to achieve equality. We have awarded this scholarship to Zachary Abdalla.
Zachary Abdalla is a visually impaired youth from Calgary with a passion for everything nerdy. He is attending the University of Calgary in his home town studying Marketing. Zach spends his time advocating for change in the Albertan education system, staying active, and participating in activities such as Dungeons and Dragons. Despite his vision loss, Zach has managed to maintain a healthy and diverse lifestyle and push through adversity. Zach has spent the past few years speaking to government officials and educational professionals about how students with sight loss can best be supported within Alberta. Zach has found a love for skateboarding and spends a few hours a week cruising around an accessible skatepark with his visually impaired peers. Zach has pushed for blind sport and has presented to educators and the public on the importance of active living within the vision loss community. Through his advocacy and volunteer efforts Zach has become a well rounded and skilled individual who has made an impact on the sight loss community.
Paul and Cheryl Thiele Memorial Scholarship - Griffin Hiltz
The BC Affiliate and AEBC National have combined to award a scholarship in memory of Paul and Cheryl Thiele. Paul was extremely passionate about the quality and accessibility of education needed for post-secondary students who are blind, deafblind and partially sighted, and was instrumental in shepherding AEBC towards promoting a scholarship program many years ago. The BC Affiliate honoured him last year, but both he and his wife passed away in December of 2023. This $1,500 award has been granted to Griffin Hiltz.
Griffin Hiltz is a visually impaired, 18 year old student from Dartmouth Nova-Scotia preparing to attend Dalhousie University in the fall of 2024 to pursue a Bachelor degree in Science in the hopes of attending medical school. Being diagnosed with both Nystagmus and Ocular Albinism at a very young age, Griffin, like many others, had to learn and adapt with his condition in order to succeed. Griffin spends his free time playing the electric guitar, skateboarding, taking pictures and making art, he also plays Goalball for Team Canada and is training towards playing in the LA 2028 Paralympics. Ever since he was a young student, Griffin had to advocate for himself and employ different methods in order to maintain his high grades and stay on top of assignments and programs. To Griffin, education should be fully accessible to all students regardless of their circumstance or situation. After all, being provided with the necessary materials and resources to succeed is a right all students should have.
Tom Teranishi Memorial Scholarship - Alethea Moroney
Also from our BC Affiliate, we awarded the Tom Teranishi Memorial Scholarship, in the amount of $1500, this time to Alethea Moroney. Here is an essay from Alethea:
My name is Alethea Moroney. I live in Victoria, British Columbia where I will be graduating from Spectrum Community School. I enjoy jazz, playing the drums and learning languages such as Spanish and Portuguese in my free time. I will be attending Camosun College in the fall, and will be starting the associate degree in Pre-Social Work. I hope to start a non-profit one day, advocating for people with visual impairments and blindness.
There were a few times when I needed to write letters to school and district administrators to tell them how I felt about not having a braillist or support person, and how this was impacting me physically, mentally, and emotionally. These letters were very effective. As I was advocating for my needs as a student, I was also becoming a strong and clear communicator. Part of being a student is having access to my learning. This could mean having hard copy braille, having someone explain to me what is happening in a very visual situation like during a science experiment, or it could mean having assistive technology that gives me access to my learning materials and the internet.
My education and career goals are to get a social work degree so that I can help people who are blind or partially sighted to advocate for their needs. A degree in social work would give me the professional credentials to do so across organizations and perhaps beyond Canada.
Allyant Scholarship - Joshua Simmonds
We are also pleased that Allyant (formerly T-Base Communications) continued their thirteen-year tradition by sponsoring two $1,000 scholarships, the first one awarded to Joshua Simmonds. Here is an essay from Joshua:
My name is Joshua Simmonds, and I am a second-year doctoral student in Vision Sciences at the University of Montreal School of Optometry, Quebec, Canada. After being a licenced counselling psychologist for over 20 years, I returned to school as a person who is legally blind with retinitis pigmentosa to help advance the field of vision rehabilitation. My doctoral thesis will explore how newly referred individuals cope when receiving vision rehabilitation over time. An emotionally challenging process for many, these individuals often have difficulties with the rehabilitation process sometimes dropping out prematurely, at times for many years, or permanently. My journey has included experiences in educational, corporate, and healthcare settings. In that time, I have learned much from sage colleagues and amazing clients about self advocacy, perseverance, and human interdependence regardless of ability.
I cherish the opportunity to share my professional skills and lived experiences with the field of vision rehabilitation, a discipline that has given me so very much. Being awarded the 2024 Allyant Scholarship will help in attaining my academic goals and continue an ongoing commitment to self-advocacy.
Please note: due to health reasons, Joshua's award will be held in trust for one year.
Allyant Scholarship - Catheryne Houde
The second Allyant Scholarship was awarded to Catheryne Houde, one of our French-language applicants. Here are some words from Catheryne:
I am presently a Senior Manager Responsible for Inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility at CNIB. I therefore ensure that the organization’s I D E A strategy is in place. Before, I worked for almost five years in charge of advocacy. I therefore offered legal support to people who are blind and managed several major projects such as Know Your Rights and the Neighbourhood Accessibility Project.
I lost my sight at the age of eight months following an event that might well have cost me my life or seriously affected my ability to function. That is why I have always felt that being blind gave me a real chance in life under the circumstances. I therefore try every day to break down barriers and change existing perceptions about visual disability.
In 2014, I completed a college diploma in foreign languages that made it possible for me to improve my knowledge of Spanish and learn German. After that, I travelled a lot on my own to discover the world and take advantage of what I had learned. After my journey, I finished my legal studies and became a jurist.
During my studies, I was extremely busy working with l’aide juridique de Montréal and various organizations that assist vulnerable populations and racialized individuals. I am now studying for my Master’s in equity, diversity and inclusion in organizations. I am now pleased to work at CNIB and do reports on AMI-télé, not only to change what it means to be blind today, but above all to leave future generations a great world to live in, even in the dark.
AEBC Donor Scholarships - Jinnie Saran, Karis Oscienny, Aidan Lapp, Nina Steyn
For the eighth year, an anonymous donor has made several awards possible. This year, we have used their donation to fund four awards: $1000 to both Harjinder “Jinnie” Saran and Karis Oscienny, and $1500 to both Aidan Lapp and Nina Steyn.
Jinnie Saran has been blind since birth and lives in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Jinnie is studying Creative Writing at Kwantlen Polytech University (KPU) after which she hopes to obtain her masters degree. Jinnie has had challenges in the academic realm as a result of her blindness, but after many years of advocating for herself she has become self-reliant and independent. Regardless of the challenges faced because of her disability, her volunteer and work experience has allowed her to get involved in her community and gain valuable skills that will be useful at work or at school. Even though in her family blindness was considered shameful, she has forged her own identity. Jinnie continues to advocate for the right to have materials in braille as part of her education and hopes to eventually teach creative writing.
Karis Oscienny is a twenty-year-old student from La Ronge, Saskatchewan who is attending the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. She is pursuing a B.A. in English and plans to become an editor in the future. Born with retinoblastoma, a cancer that begins in young retinal cells, she became totally blind at an early age. Karis is passionate about music, creative writing, and social justice issues such as disability rights and accessible education.
Aidan Lapp is a third-year undergraduate student at MacEwan University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts with a Political Science Major and a French Minor. Aidan is legally blind, having undergone five years of cancer treatment for bilateral retinoblastoma as a child, leading to severe damage to the left eye and inoculation of the right eye. He aspires toward a career in International Security and aims to specialize in peace-building and the politics of black markets, state-sponsored crime, and war economies. Aidan has remained on the Dean’s List since 2022 and maintains a 4.0 Political Science and French GPA. He serves as the Vice-President and Director-General of MacEwan’s Model United Nations Team, a voluntary position he has held since April 2023. Aidan works to provide rich scholastic skill-building and travel opportunities to MacEwan students through the delivery of lectures, preparation of workshops, and facilitation of conferences leading up to the annual National Model United Nations conference in New York. This past year, MacEwan’s delegation, representing the Netherlands, won three Position Paper Awards, of which Aidan’s paper won one, and the Distinguished Delegation Award.
Nina Steyn is a first year university student from Vernon, BC. She attends the University of British Columbia, where she is taking courses towards a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in psychology. Nina has many interests, but loves skiing most of all, and in the past year she became the first adaptive athlete in UBC’s ski racing team, with whom she competed in races across America, including national championships. Nina also enjoys volunteering, especially through working with Blind Beginnings, where she assists the organization in supporting young families experiencing blindness and in spreading awareness about the blind community. After working in the summer, Nina plans to return to her full time studies at UBC, where she hopes to take courses exploring her interest in clinical and developmental psychology.
I hope you have enjoyed reading about the wonderful students who received our scholarship awards this year. We could have given out many more awards—our candidates were all worthy.
FEATURED IMAGE ALT TEXT: Photo of student in a library reading a braille book.