A pupil from Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary College was certainly one of 100 college students chosen for the 2024 Schulich Chief Scholarship, which can present them with $100,000 for post-secondary schooling.
18-year-old Pooria Ahmadi from Holy Trinity Catholic Secondary College was certainly one of 100 college students chosen for the 2024 Schulich Chief Scholarship, which can present him with $100,000 for post-secondary schooling.
Chosen from a pool of 1,500 nominees from a bigger group of over 300,000 candidates throughout Canada, Ahmadi has dedicated to attending Queen’s College this fall and is now a part of a nationwide community of STEM students.
At Queen’s, Ahmadi will pursue a serious in computing with an possibility in Synthetic Intelligence.
“I noticed the e-mail from Queen’s admissions, and I almost fell again into my door,” mentioned Ahmadi as he mirrored on discovering out he’d been chosen. “I nonetheless cannot comprehend the sum of money there may be; I simply can’t wrap my head round it.”
As a pupil who moved to Canada from Iran simply over two years in the past and speaks English as his second language, this achievement meant extra to him than simply a possibility; it was a testomony to his laborious work and dedication.
“The place we see the strengths, we begin recommending,” mentioned Holy Trinity Principal Teresa Castellarin. “Pooria’s management talents, along with his tutorial abilities, began displaying up, and that is when academics started making suggestions.”
The best candidate for the Schulich Chief Scholarship is somebody who not solely exhibits tutorial excellence but in addition demonstrates robust interpersonal abilities.
Ahmadi says the $100,000 will assist him give attention to lecturers as he pursues his degree, for which he might want to preserve a median of a minimum of 80%. He estimates his first yr at Queen’s will price round $30,000, together with housing and meals however says the next years will not be as costly.
Anticipating to have some cash left over after his 4-5 yr degree, Ahmadi hopes to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (MIT), the place he says the common tuition is round $70,000 per yr for a grasp’s degree.
For Ahmadi, the qualities that made him stand out past his tutorial excellence had been his drive and management talents. These had been greatest demonstrated by means of his participation within the faculty’s S.H.I.E.L.D. Management Program and his function as software program lead on Group 3161 Tronic Titans Robotics Group.
Learn extra right here: Holy Trinity highschool robotics workforce to seem at second straight world championships
Along with these roles, Ahmadi developed an attendance app for S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Robotics Group, which Principal Castellarin says additional mirrored his management qualities.
“It is a pupil who’s been within the nation for 2 and a half years and jumped proper in,” she mentioned.
Ahmadi attributes the majority of his success to the steerage he obtained from his steerage counsellor and S.H.I.E.L.D. lead, Ryan Latimer, his ESL academics, Zrinjka Reeves and Lindsay Andrews, his robotics lead, Roger Balech, and, after all, his supportive household.
In the long run, Ahmadi hopes to be an entrepreneur within the tech discipline, however his high precedence will probably be to present again by volunteering at future robotics competitions, a spot the place he discovered inspiration and help.
Nonetheless, his journey of balancing tutorial success with extracurricular actions was not a simple highway. “Some late nights need to be there to stability it,” mentioned Ahmadi. “Some components is probably not wholesome, nevertheless it’s as much as the individual to determine which aspect of issues they need to select,” he continued.
For different college students who aspire to attain this sort of scholarship, Ahmadi says that going above and past and beginning early is what’s most vital.
“It’s important to begin early, you must accumulate your further curriculars, you must do greater than your further curriculars, you must volunteer, you must have these speaking factors once you need to write your utility as a result of the competitors is admittedly excessive and it is not simply your lecturers that matter,” he mentioned.
Stated Principal Castellarin, “These qualities of laborious work, dedication, dedication, initiative, is what builds on the pure mental and tutorial potential that Pooria has, he is a very smart younger man, however what makes him the success that he’s is all the opposite qualities.”
