NACCA 2023 Scholarship and Award Ceremony recap
Congratulations once again to the exceptional recipients of the prestigious NACCA Scholarship and Awards 2023. Your remarkable commitment and relentless efforts serve as a true inspiration to many. With your bright minds leading the way, the future holds immense promise for you!
We express our deepest gratitude to all the distinguished speakers and extraordinary performers at the NACCA 2023 scholarship and award ceremony. Your remarkable contributions have enriched the event and left a mark on our hearts. We sincerely appreciate the invaluable time you dedicated to imparting words of wisdom and inspiring the recipients with your profound insights and talents.
We express our deepest gratitude to all the distinguished speakers and extraordinary performers at the NACCA 2023 scholarship and award ceremony. Your remarkable contributions have enriched the event and left a mark on our hearts. We sincerely appreciate the invaluable time you dedicated to imparting words of wisdom and inspiring the recipients with your profound insights and talents.
Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association
2023 Scholarship Application
The NACCA Scholarship is awarded to students who are entering their first year of full time post-secondary studies and demonstrate academic excellence and a commitment to community service in order to break down barriers and build inclusive spaces.
NACCA will be awarding Scholarships of $1500 each to selected recipients in support of their post-secondary education. One student who has overcome significant setbacks while excelling in these areas will receive the Iris Malcolm Memorial Award* ($2500). For example, if five students are selected, four will receive an award of $1500 each and one will receive $2500 (not both). A total of ten students will be awarded for 2023.
The Wasim Jarrah Business Excellence Award is given to graduating students who are looking to pursue post-secondary education and who have demonstrated excellence in business and entrepreneurship studies. NACCA Scholarship Award recipients who are graduating from a secondary school in York Region and pursuing business will be eligible for this award. The value of the award is $500. A total of three students will be awarded. This means that a student entering business has the opportunity to earn $2000 in scholarship.
Committee Composition
The Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association and its members, volunteers and executive council, understand the importance of impartiality and the consideration of any potential conflicts of interest in carrying out its scholarship selection process. The selection of recipients for the NACCA Scholarship is conducted in an impartial manner through an independent selection committee. Candidate selection is based on evidence obtained from the applicants and is not influenced by other interests or other parties.
Terms and Conditions
To be eligible for consideration for the NACCA scholarships, students must:
The NACCA application asks that students include the following:
Submission Details:
How to Apply
Please carefully review and complete this scholarship application form in full. All responses are bound by NACCA’s privacy and confidentiality policy and all responses will remain private. Should you have any questions, please contact Karen Mell at naccascholarshipaward@gmail.com.
Timelines: All scholarship applications are due by March 31, 2023. Scholarship winners are announced at the end of June, 2023.
How, when and where award is advertised
NACCA will be awarding Scholarships of $1500 each to selected recipients in support of their post-secondary education. One student who has overcome significant setbacks while excelling in these areas will receive the Iris Malcolm Memorial Award* ($2500). For example, if five students are selected, four will receive an award of $1500 each and one will receive $2500 (not both). A total of ten students will be awarded for 2023.
The Wasim Jarrah Business Excellence Award is given to graduating students who are looking to pursue post-secondary education and who have demonstrated excellence in business and entrepreneurship studies. NACCA Scholarship Award recipients who are graduating from a secondary school in York Region and pursuing business will be eligible for this award. The value of the award is $500. A total of three students will be awarded. This means that a student entering business has the opportunity to earn $2000 in scholarship.
Committee Composition
The Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association and its members, volunteers and executive council, understand the importance of impartiality and the consideration of any potential conflicts of interest in carrying out its scholarship selection process. The selection of recipients for the NACCA Scholarship is conducted in an impartial manner through an independent selection committee. Candidate selection is based on evidence obtained from the applicants and is not influenced by other interests or other parties.
Terms and Conditions
To be eligible for consideration for the NACCA scholarships, students must:
- Self-identify as a person of African descent /Black / African Canadian / Afro Caribbean or any other term denoting an African (racialized Black) ancestry.
- Be a York Region resident and have/will be graduating from a York Region secondary school within the last two-years.
- Be applying to a post-secondary institution in 2023.
- Show proof of acceptance and enrolment in a post-secondary institution, apprenticeship or trade program, as a full-time student beginning in September 2023.
- Must be pursuing post-secondary studies for the first-time.
- Demonstrate academic excellence (minimum average of 80% in 6 Ontario grade 12 credits).
- Must demonstrate involvement in extracurricular activities at high school or involvement in community or volunteer work.
- Must attend the awards ceremony held in July 2023.
- Must participate in 1-2 NACCA activities in the first year of post-secondary education. Newsletters/communications will be sent to inform scholarship recipients of volunteer opportunities.
- Consent to the publication of their name and image by NACCA, if selected as a scholarship recipient.
The NACCA application asks that students include the following:
- A personal statement outlining the reasons you should be considered for a NACCA Scholarship. The essay must reflect your capacity for original thought and your leadership/community activities: you will indicate the leadership/community activities/positions that you have been involved in during your final two years in secondary school (max 500 words).
- Grade 11 Transcript & Grade 12, Semester 1 and Semester 2 transcripts.
- Two (2) letters of reference:
- Academic reference letter that confirms your scholastic/academic abilities. This reference may also speak to your leadership within your school.
- Community reference letter should address your leadership/community endeavours. It should not verify academic achievement.
Submission Details:
- Applicants must personally submit their application including their full address with postal code and contact number.
- Only PDF’s of original transcripts/documents will be accepted.
- All required documentation (application form, signed waiver, transcript, report cards, personal statement, letters of reference) must be submitted together in one email with documents in PDF format.
- All email communications to NACCA must have your name (first, last name) and the topic in the subject line.
- Applicants must send their full application to: naccascholarshipaward@gmail.com.
How to Apply
Please carefully review and complete this scholarship application form in full. All responses are bound by NACCA’s privacy and confidentiality policy and all responses will remain private. Should you have any questions, please contact Karen Mell at naccascholarshipaward@gmail.com.
Timelines: All scholarship applications are due by March 31, 2023. Scholarship winners are announced at the end of June, 2023.
How, when and where award is advertised
- NACCA Newsletter, social media outlets, and website, January - March
- York Region District School Board and York Region Catholic District School Board guidance departments
- Black-serving organizations in York Region
| NACCA Scholarship Application - Fillable Form |
The Impact - since 2019
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Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity. (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie).
The Ten Dollar Story
When Iris Malcolm passed away at Southlake Regional Health Centre in September 2015, she left seven adult children behind (all scattered throughout the diaspora) and Ten Dollars in her purse. She did not graduate from high school and subsequently got no opportunity to pursue postsecondary education. She spent most of her life volunteering in the church and working diligently to take care of her children. She was peaceful, humble, and worked quietly. She had many gifts and talents but limited access to opportunities for higher education.
At first, the Ten Dollars in her purse felt like a badge of shame to her youngest daughter who was left to carry out her final arrangements as she felt that there was no inheritance, no grand story. Soon, she realized that there was an overarching narrative to her mother's life that would become the driving force for creating NACCA and the Scholarship Gala. The link that connected the past to the present was that Iris’ great-great grandmother would have likely worked on a plantation somewhere in Jamaica, cut-off from access to education and higher learning. Therefore, the significance of this legacy is the story that this award is rewriting. By overcoming significant setbacks, Iris was able to carve out a different narrative than the one prescribed by history.
The Ten Dollars from Iris’s purse was used to invest in NACCA in order to change the story of lack, to dismantle structures of Black exploitation and oppression, and to create narratives of opportunity and access for the people of African descent, regardless of origin. Retrieving and redignifying the stories of our ancestors is a rebuilding strategy. This award is the memory and hope for a more equitable future.
At first, the Ten Dollars in her purse felt like a badge of shame to her youngest daughter who was left to carry out her final arrangements as she felt that there was no inheritance, no grand story. Soon, she realized that there was an overarching narrative to her mother's life that would become the driving force for creating NACCA and the Scholarship Gala. The link that connected the past to the present was that Iris’ great-great grandmother would have likely worked on a plantation somewhere in Jamaica, cut-off from access to education and higher learning. Therefore, the significance of this legacy is the story that this award is rewriting. By overcoming significant setbacks, Iris was able to carve out a different narrative than the one prescribed by history.
The Ten Dollars from Iris’s purse was used to invest in NACCA in order to change the story of lack, to dismantle structures of Black exploitation and oppression, and to create narratives of opportunity and access for the people of African descent, regardless of origin. Retrieving and redignifying the stories of our ancestors is a rebuilding strategy. This award is the memory and hope for a more equitable future.