Helping Island students living with disabilities be successful in their studies
Holly MacDonald is the new Easter Seals PEI $2,000 Scholarship Recipient
Holly MacDonald is PEI’s recipient of the 2024/25 Easter Seals Workplace Readiness $2,000 Scholarship, funded by Sun Life Canada. Holly is from Summerside and a second-year student of UPEI’s Bachelor of Music Education. Holly was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Grade 12 and says her recent diagnosis is helping her studies and plans for the future.
“I have embraced my diagnosis and am proud to say I am making wonderful progress as a musician with hopes to one day practice music therapy as my career,” says Holly.
She has recently needed surgeries on her Achilles tendons which is a common condition with this diagnosis. Holly is thankful this scholarship will allow her to focus on her studies and healing. Congratulations Holly!
Meet Marie-Pier Thibault-Messier who was the 2023/24 Easter Seals PEI Scholarship Recipient
Marie-Pier Thibault-Messier says receiving the Easter Seals Workplace Readiness $2,000 Scholarship, funded by Sunlife Canada has been pivotal in her nursing education journey. She is a 3rd-year student in the accelerated UPEI nursing program and presently doing a clinical rotation in Unit 4 at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown.
“This scholarship has alleviated financial pressures and empowered me to focus on my studies and clinical practice. For differently-abled students like myself, such support is transformative and has allowed me to access necessary resources, accommodations, and opportunities that might otherwise be out of reach.”
Thibault-Messier, who has had scoliosis complications since childhood, spoke about her positive experience with her Sun Life mentor, Melanie Kaposky. She emphasized that having someone to encourage her has significantly impacted her nursing career.
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