By Deron Hamel
A long-standing scholarship for students living with epilepsy is once again being offered this year in a “new and improved” format.
The Osler Epilepsy Scholarship, formerly called the OBCL Epilepsy Scholarship, is being offered to four students this year. Aside from the name change, the scholarship committee also decided to up the award amount from $1,000 to $1,500.
Additionally, for the first time in the scholarship’s 10-year history, all Ontario students living with epilepsy can apply. In previous years the scholarship was limited to those going into their first year at an Ontario university or college.
“(The scholarship committee) thought, ‘let’s look at giving the scholarship to four people at $1,500 because this might be more attractive to people,’” says Lawton Osler, a Toronto businessman whose company, Osler Business Consulting Ltd., sponsors the scholarship.
Osler says he hopes to see each scholarship recipient use the money to help pay for their education and achieve their academic goals. One of the things that makes Osler proud to be involved with the scholarship is when he attends the award ceremony every June and sees the recipients there with their friends and families to celebrate their achievement.
“That’s a big deal (to me),” he says.
To be eligible for an Osler Epilepsy Scholarship, students must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents who have been accepted into a post-secondary educational program or who are returning students. They must also be under an Ontario physician’s care for epilepsy.
Osler Epilepsy Scholarships are awarded each year to exceptional students who have confronted and overcome remarkable barriers in their academic and personal lives due to their epilepsy.
Applicants must also submit a 600- to 900-word essay, about a famous person who has epilepsy and what that person’s life means to them.
The history of the Osler Epilepsy Scholarship goes back to the early 2000s, when two pharmaceutical companies – first Pfizer, then Lundbeck Canada – offered the scholarships.
Osler, a past Epilepsy Ontario president, was involved with the committee that judged the essays during this time. When Lundbeck stopped sponsoring the scholarship 10 years ago, Osler saw a chance to help young Ontarians living with epilepsy finance their post-secondary education.
The deadline scholarship for applications is May 1 at 4 p.m. The four scholarships will be awarded in June at a special ceremony in Toronto.
Click here for more information on the Osler Epilepsy Scholarship.
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