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CMHA WW WAYVE Program Participant Credits Program for Helping Her Win Prestigious LORAN Scholarship

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I come from a culture where mental health is seldom discussed. In fact, even when mental health is discussed, there is often more misinformation spread than actual facts. When I first joined WAYVE in grade eight, I remember realizing how little I knew about not only mental health but also LGBTQ+ issues but also racism and bullying in schools. Having now been a member with WAYVE for four years, I can say with confidence that my knowledge on various issues affecting youth has grown exponentially.

Not only did my knowledge on these issues grow, but my passion and my commitment to helping address these issues also blossomed because of WAYVE. Last year, a fellow WAYVE team member and I organized our high school’s first ever mental health awareness assembly! We combined our knowledge about wellness and mental illnesses, community resources and supports, and about various coping strategies to prepare an assembly which featured student and community speakers, various videos, presentations from local groups and even social workers. The assembly was such a huge success that it is now returning this year and, for the first time in ages, our school has an active in-school WAYVE team!

Not only did WAYVE ignite my passion for mental health and wellness advocacy, but it also helped me improve my public speaking skills and even help me find lifelong friends and mentors. In February of this year, I had the honour of being selected as one of the thirty-five recipients of the prestigious LORAN scholarship. The scholarship is valued at $100, 000 over four years of undergraduate study and has over five thousand applicants annually. I believe with my whole heart that I would not have been able to earn this scholarship had it not been for WAYVE. WAYVE was the first community team that really encouraged me to think bigger than myself. Not only that, WAYVE taught me how to identify the problems I saw in my community and, most importantly, taught me how to raise awareness around the issues and even solve some of them. WAYVE has been the most significant involvement of my life so far and I cannot stress the importance of the work that this team does in just a mere three paragraphs alone.

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