FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oakville, Ont., June 19, 2026 – The Oakville Community Foundation is thrilled to announce more than $50,000 has been awarded to 24 local students heading off to post-secondary school.
The Oakville Youth Education Award, the Pehar Family Mental Health Scholarship, the Kopriva-Robinson Family Foundation Award and the Kick Start your Education Award were created through The Foundation’s Community Education Awards Hub.
The Awards Hub is a one-stop, free, online source for students to access numerous Oakville-based scholarships, bursaries and awards.
An awards celebration was hosted at Ford of Canada where the students enjoyed remarks by Ford of Canada President & CEO, Bev Goodman. Ford has been an ongoing supporter of The Foundation and was presented with a plaque as a thank you for a decade of support.
The Oakville Youth Education Award
The Oakville Youth Education Award is generously funded by The Foundation’s Donor Advised Fundholders. The Foundation is grateful to Oakville’s local philanthropists and the following Donor Advised Funds:
The Miller Family Foundation, The Augy & Anna Carnovale Foundation, Ben Neagh Fund, C3 Foundation, Cudjoe and Pendala Families Fund, Famille Yolaine Boileau & Pierre Matteau, Frances Pace Bursary Fund, Jackson Family Fund, Kerry Colborne Foundation, Larmour – McLaren Family Fund, Les and Kathleen Ross Family Foundation, MacDonald Family Foundation, Paul Da Silva – Prominent Realty and the Tremblay Family Fund.
A one-time scholarship of $2,000 was awarded to 22 students which will be given directly to their post-secondary institution. Congratulations to the following recipients:
- Aiden Brzozowski
- Alice Kuang
- Aminah Amanullah
- Ayca Yesildag
- Benjamin Butler
- Chantal Martinov
- Chelsea Maciel
- Darasimi Akindipe
- Dhruv Aswani
- Emilia Kulesza
- Gabriela Martinez
- Grace Shen
- Kate Puhlmann
- Meghan Calicchia
- Nabira Rashid
- Natalie Coscarella
- Nawra Ahmed
- Olivia Zimmermann
- Peter Shao
- Qianqian Feng
- Qinyao Wu
- Yanina Xie
“As you move forward, please don’t forget to pay it forward. There will be a future generation waiting for your support,” said Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation during the celebration. “We hope to see you up on this stage again, not receiving the awards, but presenting the awards.”
Other Awards
The Pehar Family Mental Health Scholarship, The Kopriva-Robinson Family Foundation Award and The Kick Start your Education Award are all individual student awards started by Fundholders using the Awards Hub system. These awards were also presented during the celebration.
Congratulations to the following recipients:
- Dhruv Aswani – The Pehar Family Mental Health Scholarship and The Oakville Youth Education Award
- Jessica Wang – The Kopriva-Robinson Family Foundation Award
- Joey Duan – The Kick Start your Education Award
More About the Community Education Awards Hub
The Community Education Awards Hub was launched by the Oakville Community Foundation in 2020 and has made it easier for organizations and individuals to support local students in their post-secondary education and for students to access available awards in one place. So far, The Awards Hub has facilitated over $2.2 million in student awards. The Awards Hub has had 5,110 lifetime registrations.
The Foundation would like to thank the selection committee, a dedicated group of volunteers, who reviewed the applications and chose the recipients of The Oakville Youth Education Award and the Kopriva-Robinson Award:
- Julie Pehar (Chair)
- Mikola Stewart
- Glory Kabila
- Zhaoxin Dong
- Les Ross
- Robert Bigler
Individuals and Organizations that are interested in using The Awards Hub for their educational awards management can contact us at education@theocf.org.
Community members interested in joining Oakville’s largest community of philanthropists and Donor Advised Funds please contact giving@theocf.org.
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Oakville Community Foundation
The Oakville Community Foundation is Oakville’s largest community of philanthropists with 400 Funds. The Foundation facilitates local philanthropy by investing donations to generate new money for our community and charities. We conduct local research to provide our diverse donors with knowledge and solutions to make an impact in the local community, both today and in the future. Thanks to the visionaries in our community who started The Foundation more than 30 years ago, The Foundation has granted more than $80 million to support charities locally and beyond.
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