Meet Second Year Trinity Students Danielle Pal, Joudy Sarraj and Lorne Levy

Each year, Trinity College offers its students more than $1 million in student awards, including scholarships, prizes and bursaries. Not only do these awards allow Trinity to attract the best and brightest students to the College, scholarships and financial aid enable students to flourish while they are here. Among the awards, the College offers approximately 100 entrance scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $3,500, a number of bursaries ranging from $500 to $5,000, and approximately 400 in-course and graduation awards for exceptional student achievement. Although students are automatically considered for many of the in-course Trinity scholarships at the end of their first, second and third years, there are a number of scholarships requiring student application, including the William and Nona Heaslip Scholarships and the John Harvey Whiteside Scholarship, which are awarded to three second-year Trinity students and are valued at $15,000/year (twice renewable).

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded application-based in-course scholarships for 2015:

• Bronskill Prize: Anthony Marchese
• Buscombe Awards: Rebekah Michelle Baumann, Pauline Karpazis, Eleanor Laffling, Michael Luomo
• George Gray Falle Scholarship in English: Molly Dawe, Nikita Gupta, Sonia Liang, Breen Shannon Wilkinson, Shuyin Yu
• Matthews-Khan Award: Ondiek Oduor
• Martin Simpson Award: Inseo Baek
• Rogers Scholarship: Inseo Baek
• Neil Reid McLeod Scholarship: Casimir Legrand
• Solar Panel First-Year Award: Lila Asher

A Student Awards Reception will be held on November 12 in Seeley Hall to honour all Trinity award winners for 2015-2016.

Trinity is indebted to the generosity of alumni and friends, whose donations support a lasting legacy and inspire the next generation of alumni.

Learn what this year’s recipients of the William and Nona Heaslip Scholarship (Danielle Pal and Joudy Sarraj) and the John Harvey Whiteside Scholarship (Lorne Levy) have to say about their awards.

Recipients of the William and Nona Heaslip Scholarship 2015

The William and Nona Heaslip Scholarships: These renewable awards were established by William and Nona Heaslip in 2005 to provide continuing funding for Trinity College students who actively participate in the community, have financial need, and strong academic records. The Heaslips went on to establish their scholarship at nine more universities across Canada. To date, 20 Trinity students have received the scholarship.

Danielle Pal

Double major in Environmental Studies and Psychology, with a minor in Environment and Behaviour

What do you love about Trinity?
“I love the sense of community at Trinity – it’s amazing. The friends I’ve made are unlike any other – they are compassionate and passionate. At Trinity, there’s a lot of opportunities to make connections and to network with older students. It’s a gold mine for opportunities.”

What does the scholarship mean to you?
“The scholarship allows me to stay involved with the community and to experience university life to my fullest capacity so I can develop into a well-rounded and healthy individual. The scholarship is an investment in me so I can invest in myself.”

How are you involved with the community?
“I threw myself into the community and embraced university life. I’m the co-editor of the yearbook Stephanos and on the editorial team of Salterrae. Designing and editing are definitely side passions of mine. I’m also on executive of the Trinity Environmental Society and Animal Welfare Society. I’m also involved with U of T Greens. Last year, I volunteered with the Canadian Centre of Victims of War and Torture. I’m helping to organize a case competition focusing on homelessness in Toronto for the Munk One program as part of my work study placement there this year.

What are your next steps?
“Eventually I want to go to grad school – a master’s degree in environmental studies and law to document environmental racism issues.”

Joudy Sarraj 

Double major in International Relations and Ethics, Society & Law

What do you love about Trinity?
What I love about Trinity is that it’s a place where I am learning constantly from those around me. Class is great, but I think I’ve learnt more about the American and Canadian electoral systems, amongst other things, through dinner conversations in Strachan Hall. Trinity is an engaging, motivating and supportive community and it’s for these reasons that I chose Trinity in the first place.

What does the scholarship mean to you?
The scholarship gives me a vote of personal and financial confidence. Many university activities like debating are actually subsidized, but its time forgone in extracurriculars that is difficult financially. With this scholarship I’m able to spend my time doing things like debating and judging competitively, volunteering and attending research conferences and trips. This year, I’ll be going to Washington to conduct interviews as a part of my research course on Canada’s intervention in Afghanistan, and hopefully attending the G7 conference in Japan as a part of the G7/8 Research group.

How are you involved with the community?
I’m involved quite a bit within Hart House through Debating and through Finance Committee, and I love the student-led and collaborative sense of things there. I think Trinity is really similar in its spirit. This year I’m a mentor for Trinity Women in Leadership; it’s a new mentorship initiative started by the female Heads of College that has upper year students paired with new students. The non-res community at Trin is quite important to me too, having been a commuter since first year. In terms of U of T more generally, I’m the director of the first Arabic division for research at the Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, and I’m on the executive teams for U of T Refugee Alliance and U of T Pre-Law Society.

What are your next steps?
In the long term, I want to take the theoretical knowledge I’ve learned in undergrad – about international relations and ethics – and put it to practical use at the graduate level in global governance or law school. More immediately though, my next step is to get more involved in student governance within Trinity itself.

Recipient of the John Harvey Whiteside Scholarship 2015
The John Harvey Whiteside Scholarship: This scholarship was established in 2010 by Jack Whiteside 6T3 to provide continuing funding for a Trinity College student who is registered in an Honours Bachelor of Arts or Commerce program, and who is not also receiving another significant continuing scholarship. Candidates are to have strong academic records and good records of community participation. Since 2010, the scholarship has been awarded to six students.

Lorne Levy 

Double major in Ethics, Society & Law and History

Why Trinity?
“What brought me to Trinity last year was the Trinity One program. I was in the Ethics stream – the small classes are great places for discussion. As a small community, Trinity fosters a lot of opportunity for enrichment.”

What does the scholarship mean to you?
“It’s a huge honour and a vote of confidence. The scholarship gives me more flexibility and options for the future. It also takes away some of the stress so I can focus more on my studies and being involved in the community.”

How are you involved with the community?
“I’m on the Trinity College Equity Committee and a Junior Representative to the Senate Community Affairs Committee. I’m also involved with the Trinity College Dramatic Society and the Trinity College Comedy Collective. I organized Trinity Goes to TIFF this year – it’s cool to share a passion and interest with other students.”

What are your next steps?
“I’m studying the humanities to get rich perspective of world – that’s why I love history. I’m also trying to hone my creative skills – movies, film and writing. So, law school or film school.”

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