7 Individuals of African Descent Among Prestigious McCall MacBain Scholarship Recipients
- damiadeniyi
- April 21, 2023
- Education, Featured, News
- 30 students, 88 recipients, African descent, coaching, diversity, emerging leaders, Featured, fully-funded master's degrees, global cohort, innovation, leadership development programs, McCall MacBain Scholarship, McGill University, mentorship, pressing challenges, promoting leadership, ten different countries
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The McCall MacBain Scholarship, valued at $200 million, was established in 2019 by John and Marcy McCall MacBain to support emerging leaders worldwide. The scholarship provides fully-funded master’s degrees worth $100,000 each at McGill University, along with mentorship, coaching, and leadership development programs.
In the first year of the scholarship’s global admissions, over 1,200 students and graduates from universities around the world applied, and 242 were interviewed. Ultimately, 88 applicants were selected, including 30 students from ten different countries who form the first global cohort of McCall MacBain scholars at McGill.
Among the scholarship recipients are seven individuals of African descent:
- Clèche Kokolo: A student senator at the University of Manitoba, Ms. Kokolo is working to launch a mentorship program to make student leadership roles more accessible. She was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Black Women to Watch in 2022. Ms. Kokolo wants to study law at McGill in both English and French to break down barriers for those seeking access to French legal services.
- Farida Zakariya: A research team lead at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria, Ms. Zakariya tutored students in the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, co-ordinated a cohort of 15 student union leaders interested in entrepreneurship, and helped advocate for a startup bill proposal to the Nigerian government.
- Racheal Opoku-Afriyie: A graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, Ms. Opoku-Afriyie chaired the executive council of the forest resources technology student association and worked on community education projects at Mole National Park. She will pursue a masters degree in renewable resources.
- Abigail Ralph: A student of neuroscience and health policy at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus, Ms. Ralph served on a women’s health peer advisory research board, co-founded a grassroots initiative to support local Black students through community programs and an award, and helped oversee a vaccine equity research project.
- Yvan Kammelu: A research agent at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, Mr. Kammelu plans to pursue a masters degree in management analytics. He recently spent a gap year working, volunteering, and performing in a dance troupe in Abuja, Nigeria.
- Zineb Salma Bahri: Ms. Bahri managed and led the astronomy club at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, and led the mechatronics team to compete in international robotics competitions.
- Reem Mahmoud: Reem is studying mechanical engineering, an unusual choice for women in her hometown, at the American University in Cairo. She organizes campus-wide events for the student life office, oversees marketing for a charity club, and helps run weekly activities for children at local orphanages. Reem also served as the human resources executive of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers student chapter and, as an engineering intern and project leader at a manufacturing plant, worked with her team to reduce line stops and interventions. Her academic interests include aerospace mechatronics and drone technology, and she will pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at McGill.
Other recipients of the scholarship include Abby Buller, Agnès Totschnig, Caleigh Wong, Cameron Adams, Chantel Findlay, Eldar Wang, Fuqin (Kook) Hu, Isabella Grajczyk, Jessie Meanwell, Jonathan Ferguson, Julia Morelli, Kyla Christianson, Lynda Li, Michael Kynaston, Minh Au, Mohit Kumar, Muhammad Faisal Sattar, Ricardo André Riesgo Galaviz, Rojine McVea, Sarah Rourke, Tim Gulliver, Tomy Pelletier, and Tony Xu. Their diverse backgrounds and impressive accomplishments reflect the scholarship program’s commitment to promoting leadership, diversity, and innovation.
The McCall MacBain Scholarship offers opportunities to new leaders from various fields of study and backgrounds. The scholarship recipients represent diversity, equity, and inclusion and aim to make a difference in their communities. The scholarship recipients share a passion for change, and the program will prepare them to take on the world’s most pressing challenges.
Source: : https://mccallmacbainscholars.org/scholars/2023-cohort/.
