A job well done

Maples

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This article was published 12/03/2025 (522 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bisman Randhawa, a Grade 12 student at Maples Collegiate recently earned recognition — and financial compensation — for what has practically been a lifetime of hard work.

Randhawa is one of 15 winners from across Canada to receive a University of Toronto National Scholarship, valued at $100,000. The funds will cover tuition, as well as incidental and residence fees for up to four years of study as she works toward an undergraduate degree. It is the U of T’s largest scholarship for incoming students, and applicants must power through an application and interview process over the course of several months.

Randhawa, 17, is a volunteer cabinet member of the Youth Parliament of Manitoba, as well as Winnipeg Model United Nations. She was youth ambassador of Folklorama’s Punjab Pavilion in 2024, and is currently youth ambassador general and youth council co-chair for Folklorama. She also works as a page at the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

She described getting the news as “very surreal.”

She said she opened her email right after finishing a math test after getting “a weird feeling,” and saw it the same minute it fell into her inbox.

“The first teacher I told was Ms. Jones,” Randhawa said. “And I remember just running into her, and I came into her class and I told her … she gave me a big hug. I was so happy, because it was like something finally paid off.”

At school, Randhawa represents Maples as a UNESCO student representative. She is also the founder of Maples4Women, a feminist group which aims to propel under-represented female voices and raise funds for local shelters helping women in vulnerable situations. The group has received funding from United Way Winnipeg’s Youth United grant pilot project for its upcoming leadership summit.

Randhawa credits Maples Collegiate for helping her start the group, as it hosts a variety of clubs to help students flex their muscles in several different roles.

“That (the clubs) really helped me move forward and craft more of like, where I saw myself and what I liked and what I didn’t like,” she said. “And then in Grade 10, when I did start Maples4Women, it was a very transformative experience, because I got the opportunity to step into such a big leadership role, and like, I had never been in like a role like that before, and it taught me so many different things.”

She said that being a young woman of colour can sometimes be very daunting.

“Because you may feel like you are not accepted in spaces that you want to be in, or haven’t been seeing people like you in the spaces that you want to go into,” she said. “I think that in terms of, like, intersectionality and especially for young women, I think that my piece of advice would be that if you want to go ahead with an opportunity, but you have imposter syndrome (but) you really want to try something that you’re scared of … just going out of your comfort zone is the best thing that you can do for yourself.”

“Your gender identity does not confine you to a certain space,” she said, adding that it should be something women use to push yourself forward.

Randhawa was rejected for a different scholarship last October.

“I took it hard,” she said. “I feel like we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform well and to get results, and when we don’t get the results we want, we completely doubt everything. But the most significant part about growing up and adolescence, especially in this state in your life, where you are making so many decisions, filling out so many forms and applications, it is that one rejection doesn’t determine all your acceptances.”

Randhawa aims to study public policy and international relations at U of T, and hopes to become a lawyer, although she said she is keeping her options open.