Regional students earn Terry Fox Award

A composite image of Pania Ghaneian (left) and Aurora Wesley (right). (Terry Fox Award Foundation)

Post secondary school students from Barrie and Minden have earned themselves a scholarship, known as the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award.

Named after iconic Canadian athlete and humanitarian Terry Fox, the award recognizes students who are engaged in humanitarian work and give back to their communities.

Pania Ghaneian

A student at Barrie North Collegiate, Pania Ghaneian was one of this year’s recipients for the award. According to the Terry Fox Award foundation, Ghaneian has a background in advocacy work and policy reform in child safety and protecting the rights of children across Canada and on a global level. She has also helped raised over $15,000 in charity to help battle youth homelessness and climate action in her home community of Barrie.

Ghaneian plans to attend Harvard College in the fall.

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Aurora Wesley

Minden’s Aurora Wesley of Haliburton Highlands Secondary School is a fellow recipient of the award. Battling food insecurity at a community level became Wesley’s way to make an impact, the foundation says. For Wesley, humanitarian work began at a young age, starting her first fundraiser ever at just 11-years-old. Inspired by the death of her Godmother to lung cancer, she raised $1,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Wesley plans to attend Western University in the fall.

Through the Terry Fox award, the students can receive a maximum of $28,000 over the course of four years.