Next: A fair assessment
Posted Jun. 15/07
One of former university president Richard Van Loon’s most poignant Carleton memories is of the letters he received from students in Africa asking for financial assistance to complete their education. So when the Carleton community established a scholarship in his name, Van Loon decided that the funds should be directed to students from an African country—and the Richard J. Van Loon Scholarship became the first to offer assistance exclusively to African students.
- Emeka Ekwosimba, in his role with the AIDS Awareness Society, is organizing the second annual campus AIDS Walk and planning an HIV/AIDS conference, “Responsible Citizenship in an Age of Globalization and HIV/AIDS”, for the fall.
“The scholarship is a great way to recognize what international students, especially those from developing countries, go through and what they contribute through their studies to the community,” says Nnaemeka (Emeka) Ekwosimba, the scholarship’s inaugural recipient.
Ekwosimba, who is from Nigeria, is graduating this spring with an honours bachelor degree in law with a minor in political science. He will use the scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in international affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
“Receiving the scholarship means continuing in the various projects that I am involved in while maintaining a strong average in my studies,” he says.
During his years at Carleton, Ekwosimba has put classroom theory into practice, throwing himself into community projects with passion. Co-founder of the Carleton University AIDS Awareness Society, Ekwosimba participated in a two-year United Nations Association in Canada project to mobilizing young Canadians around HIV/AIDS and he organized the first campus AIDS Walk for Life in 2006. A global citizenship peer helper for the First Year Experience Office and administrative coordinator of the Race, Ethnicity and Culture Hall, Ekwosimba received the 2005 Marie Odette Gabrielle Clay Memorial Award and the Carleton University Board of Governors Award for Outstanding Community Achievement in 2006.
“Carleton provides you with a wealth of opportunities geared towards development and effecting positive changes in the community,” says Ekwosimba. “My greatest accomplishment here has been joining other students in creating avenues to address social issues.”