“A Night for Bright Minds” celebrates Beedie Luminaries – Class of 2019!
VANCOUVER, MAY 30, 2019 – Ryan Beedie, through his Foundation, Beedie Luminaries, has awarded 80 promising students with scholarships of up to $40,000 per student, supporting their academic journey beyond high school, be it in university, college, or trade schools.
Beedie Luminaries, Ryan Beedie’s largest philanthropic endeavour to date, was launched in November 2018 with a pledge of $50-million to help remove barriers to higher education for resilient students who face financial adversity, and to support their long-term success.
The inaugural cohort of Beedie Luminaries is an inspiring group of 80 students from 43 high schools across Metro Vancouver. Each individual demonstrated not only academic readiness, but shared compelling personal stories of adversity and resilience. The program plans to expand in the future to support 100 students throughout British Columbia each year.
“We received an overwhelming number of great applications from deserving students and it was hard to narrow down our selection to only 50, knowing the financial need and potential were so apparent,” says Ryan Beedie of the Foundation’s decision to increase the scholarships to 30 more students than originally planned for in its pilot year. “We are proud to award this scholarship to each recipient and are excited to see the successes we know they will achieve.”
To celebrate the initial cohort of Beedie Luminaries, the Foundation hosted a special event at TELUS World of Science dubbed “A Night for Bright Minds”. Speaking to Beedie’s company motto of “Built for Good”, the selection process went beyond academic merit by considering some of the values that the Beedie name represents: resilience, determination, purpose, empathy and giving back.
“My family left our home in Syria for Jordan, and arrived in Canada in January 2016. I entered the school system in BC with no knowledge of English. Despite the challenges, I have worked very hard and never given up on my dream of becoming a surgeon” says Grade 12 student, Nour Suliman. “The Beedie Luminaries Scholarship will help me achieve this dream.”
“We are proud to welcome and support this truly incredible group of students,” says Martina Meckova, Executive Director of Beedie Luminaries. “It is encouraging to see firsthand that the next generation presents so much promise and hope.” In additional to the financial support, Beedie Luminaries offers students an access to a support network of mentors and counsellors, and paid internship opportunities. The key objective is to set students up for success by supporting their journeys, from high school to post-secondary studies and beyond.
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