Four young women are being recognized for their leadership, academic achievement and commitment to their communities through the ATHENA Scholarship Fund Windsor.
The ATHENA Scholarship Fund Windsor and the Windsor Essex Chamber of Commerce honoured this year’s recipients at the ATHENA Scholarship Luncheon Friday at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts.
Recipients include St. Clair College students Samantha Clements and Ashley Dunn, along with University of Windsor students Simran Toor and Jennifer Yu.
ATHENA Windsor president Loretta Stoyka says helping young women succeed has been the goal since the program began 27 years ago.
“We have lawyers, doctors, heads of companies. And now we have a whole table of high school students who will be here here every year. They now tell us after they come, we know we can do so many things because of watching what they see here today,” Stoyka said.
This year’s recipients shared $24,000 in scholarships after organizers surprised them with an additional $1,000 each, increasing the value of the awards from $5,000 to $6,000.
University of Windsor student Jennifer Yu says the scholarship will help her pursue a career in medicine.
Yu is studying biological sciences and volunteers with the University of Windsor Womxn Centre and the Welcome Centre Shelter for Women and Families.
“My ultimate goal is to go to medical school. My goal is to become a physician and to really help decrease those barriers for women accessing healthcare, and to improve the overall healthcare experiences and quality of life of women,” Yu said.
Ashley Dunn is pursuing business studies and hopes to become an entrepreneur in the health and wellness sector.
She says the funding will allow her to spend more time focusing on education and community involvement.
“For me, it means that I’m able to kind of focus my efforts more onto my passion of kind of giving back to the community and learning some more leadership skills, rather than having to work in order to cover rent, bills, etc.” Dunn said.
This year’s recipients were selected from 60 applicants and include students from both St. Clair College and the University of Windsor.