Meet the Recipients of the Phil Boland Memorial Scholarship
We are pleased to share that Archisman Nath and Ian Tran are the recipients of this year’s Phil Boland Memorial Scholarship.
The scholarship was established by the Boland family after their son passed away on November 18, 2019 while completing his studies at Carleton University. Phil was a fourth-year student majoring in bioinformatics with a minor in Japanese. To honour and celebrate Phil’s life, the family chose to award a scholarship to students minoring in Japanese who share Phil’s passion for the language. This year’s recipients admirably satisfy this requirement.
Archisman Nath
Archisman studies computer science and is currently pursuing a minor in Japanese.
“Japanese never really felt like I was ‘studying’ something,” Archisman shares. “I genuinely feel it connects my heart to my future.”
This past year, Archisman took language learning outside the classroom and performed at Linguavision 2025, a singing contest for language learners at Carleton University. Archisman sang in Japanese and won first place prize for his performance.
“For me, the language is a bridge to the music I dream of one day creating and a culture whose values of resilience and perseverance deeply resonate with my own personal journey.”
Ian Tran
Ian studies computer science and is currently pursuing a minor in Japanese.
“While my initial reason for studying Japanese was to understand my favourite anime and literatures in their original language, I’ve come to truly appreciate the reward of connecting with people and engaging with their culture directly,” Ian shares.
“I am grateful for the doors that Japanese has already opened for me, and I look forward to opening many more.”
The Phil Boland Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding student proceeding from one year to another who is taking a minor in Japanese Studies within the School of Linguistics and Language Studies.