Today, the Oakville Community Foundation announced award recipients for the Miller Family Foundation Bursary, the Alexander and Bernice DeMaio Education Award and the Donovan Bailey Sports Excellence Scholarship, three awards accessed through The Foundation’s Community Education Awards Hub.
The Miller Family Foundation Bursary and the Donovan Bailey Sports Excellence Scholarship are new additions to the Hub while the Alexander and Bernice DeMaio Education Award is in its second year of supporting local students who have a connection to a local charity.
The Miller Family Foundation Bursary
The Miller Family Foundation Bursary is an annual $5,000 award available to six students who: identify as Indigenous; live in Southern Ontario; and are pursuing full-time post-secondary education at an accredited college or university.
This year’s award winners will be attending Laurentian University, Carleton University, Sheridan College and George Brown College.
As June marked National Indigenous Peoples Month in Canada, The Foundation was honoured to work with the Miller Family to support Indigenous students as they pursue post-secondary education.
“Thank you again for this bursary,” said one recipient, “it has already helped to remove a great chunk of anxiety. I will put it to excellent use.”
The Alexander and Bernice DeMaio Education Award
The Alexander and Bernice DeMaio Education Award is awarded to students in Oakville who are enrolled in post-secondary education. Alexander and Bernice DeMaio created The Foundation’s first Endowment in 1996. Through this gift, their legacy continues today and continues to make a positive impact in our community.
Each recipient of the Alexander and Bernice DeMaio Education Award, receives $1,500, given directly to their post-secondary educational institution of choice. The three students will be attending nearby schools Brock University and Humber College and will be studying Computer Science, Police Foundations and Nutrition.
The Donovan Bailey Sports Excellence Scholarship
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Donovan Bailey’s Olympic two gold medal wins at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, The Foundation established the Donovan Bailey Sports Excellence Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to an Oakville high school student, who is planning to pursue or is pursuing post-secondary education.
The $2,500 Donovan Bailey Sports Excellence Scholarship will be awarded annually in support of a student pursuing their own Olympic dreams. In recognition of this year’s milestone and given the volume of very deserving applicants, two students will receive this scholarship in its inaugural year.
Kai Abdool is a graduate of St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary School. Kai has had significant sports success in both winter and summer sports. He is the 2020 Ontario Winter Games overall champion in speed skating, as well as a three-time indoor volleyball championship medalist. He will be attending the University of Waterloo in the Fall majoring in health studies with a focus in athletic therapy.
Madeline Schizas is a graduate of White Oaks Secondary School. She is Canada’s national female figure skating champion and recently ranked 13th in the world. She will be attending University of Waterloo in the Fall, where she will study music cognition with a long-term goal of becoming a medical doctor.
Both Kai and Madeline were named as winners by Donovan during The Foundation’s Annual General Meeting.
This year’s scholarship review committee included: Adam Graves, Elfi Schlegel, Adam van Koeverden and Sean Buckley.
About The Awards Hub
This year the Awards Hub saw over 720 registrants – an increase of 36% from 2020 – with over 450 applications submitted for the variety of awards, bursaries and scholarships available. The Awards Hub brings together over $330,000 in educational awards providing a one point access for students while also streamlining the access and management of awards programs for numerous participating local area organizations.
“We are thrilled by another successful year for the Awards Hub despite the continued challenges of the pandemic.” said Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation. “We congratulate these students for their outstanding achievements and we wish them luck in their post-secondary endeavours.”
Businesses or Individuals interested in setting up a Scholarship Fund, and using our Portal, contact Sarah McPherson, Director of Philanthropy & Communications at sarah@theocf.org
Organizations interested in using The Community Education Awards Hub for their educational awards management can contact Frances Pace, Director of Fundholder and Community Engagement at frances@theocf.org to get started.
The Awards Hub can be accessed at www.awardshub.ca. For more information please go to https://www.theocf.org/wp2021/initiative/community-education-awards-hub/
