The Lester B. Pearson International Scholarships awards outstanding international students – including those attending Canadian high schools – full scholarships to U of T.
In addition to outstanding academic achievement, these students have also made a significant contribution to their communities. Six of 40 scholarship recipients will join Co-op programs at U of T Scarborough this coming year.
While each of these individuals come from different countries and academic disciplines, they are all driven by their curiosity and determination. The scholarship ultimately gives them the opportunity to expand on their skills in the boundless learning opportunities that U of T provides.
Here are the stories of four recipients who started this fall.
Rose Pamela Esguerra
‘Ranyag.’
The word, which translates to ‘the brilliance of light,’ is the name of Rose Pamela Esguerra’s “passion project,” where she teaches art to indigenous children in her ancestral town of Langiden, Abra, in the northern Philippines.
“Working hard and valuing your education opens up so many opportunities,” says Esguerra. “You can go abroad, have a better education and give back so much more to your community and to your family.”
She completed her International Baccalaureate Diploma student at the Chinese International School Manila, the Pearson scholarship granted Esguerra a spot in the co-op psychology and health sciences programs.
A mental health advocate, she inspires to tackle the cultural stigma around mental illness.
Her interest in psychology comes from her love of analyzing literary characters and their motivations. It’s something that she used in a more “practical way,” when observing court cases in both the Philippines and during a summer in Cambridge, United Kingdom, where she studied criminology.
“Most issues, be it on the personal or global scale, stem from the misunderstanding of human behaviour. A better understanding of human behaviour will help us gain more sympathy for one another – something very important during this time of rampant social turmoil.”
She strives to be able to be the voice for those who systemically are silenced.
For Esguerra, U of T Scarborough offers a chance for her to bring her newfound experiences back home to the kids in her outreach program. She wants to inspire them to be self-determined and reach their full potential no matter how difficult their lives may be.
“By studying at U of T, you can study with the rest of the world,” says Esguerra, quoting President Meric Gertler. “That was a thought that really resonated with me.”
Olivia Exarchou
Olivia Exarchou started shadowing doctors at the age of thirteen.
It all started when a part of her family ceiling had collapsed. Her father, who was a doctor at their local hospital, wanted to explain the situation to her through this way.
“It was the first time I actually saw the true face of poverty and the bad quality of the health-care system we have,” says Exarchou, who was ten years old when she made this observation.
Exarchou was born in Greece and grew up in Sarandë, a coastal town in southern Albania, where her parents were able to find work. At 17, she moved to England for school. She studied various sciences and math at Cambridge Tutors College, she is coming to campus to study in the co-op life sciences program.
Her early exposer to the experiences of the underprivileged in the medical system is what sparked her choice of studies and career.
“The doctors wanted to help but they were unpaid and over-worked. They had to deal with people being so unpleased with not being able to afford medications from private distributors.”
Despite initial hesitation from her parents, Exarchou continued to shadow doctors in her hometown, and even continued to do so when she moved to England.
“Medicine is something that inspires me. The idea of being a qualified doctor inspires me because you have the power to give someone the life that they could lose.”
She eventually wants to serve people in developing countries and war zones.
Studying abroad gives her the opportunity to study in labs, and not just learn theoretically as she did back home. Getting to meet new people and experiencing the multiculturalism at U of T Scarborough, is something she is looking forward to upon her arrival.
Ami Morgan Alexis
Ami Morgan Alexis doesn’t want to just pass through the University of Toronto.
She wants to leave her mark.
Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Alexis completed her final year of the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examination at Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain. She will be in the co-op management program this fall.
Alexis grew up in a single-family household, her father having passed away when she was four months old. She understands not just the importance of hard work academically, but also community involvement and leadership, is when it comes to fulfilling one’s potential.
“I know that my mom worked so hard to provide for our family,” says Alexis. “It is my goal to make her proud. That is my inspiration.”
Living on an island, Alexis has a strong passion for water polo and teaches kids to swim. Along with leading school teams and her responsibilities at home, one of the greatest lessons she’s learned is the value of what she calls, the 5P’s: “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.”
The Pearson scholarship gives her the chance to not only have new opportunities to be a team player and a leader but explore a new world entirely different from her own.
“Coming to Canada, a first world country, from Trinidad and Tobago, which is a third world country, would give me a better sense of the world, in terms of the exposure to a variety of cultures, teachings and technology,” she says.
Mohamed Tayeh
Mohamed Tayeh wants to one day “bring Egypt into today’s world of technological advancement.”
He believes that fast-internet speed in the country, which ranked 146th out of 150 for fixed broadband speed, is the first step to technological breakthroughs and economic growth.
Completing his studies in the International Baccalaureate Programme, Tayeh was given the chance to code his own projects, even teaching others how to code games. The Pearson scholarship granted him a spot in the co-op computer science program at U of T Scarborough.
His program provides him with practical and theoretical learning strategies through its co-op program. This gives Tayeh a sense of what life will be like after his university career and a step closer to his future goals.
While he was born in Egypt, Tayeh has also lived in Portugal and Jordan. Living in these various countries sparked his curiosity about foreign languages, cultures and traditions.
Thankful for the opportunity that he had to grow-up around different cultures and beliefs, he was able to have these experiences because of his mother’s work.
In fact, she is his inspiration.
“She is a resilient woman, and honestly without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” says Tayeh. “Her dedication to providing me with the best she can give is what inspired me to persist through my own struggles, big or small.”
And while coming to a new country is not new for him, community value is something he looks for in a school. U of T Scarborough seemed to be a perfect fit.
“The intimacy of the campus and the student body interested me about UTSC,” he says. “It offers the intimacy of a close-knitted community, while offering a vast array of opportunities.”