{"id":510394191,"date":"2019-05-24T15:09:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T20:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2019\/05\/24\/scholar-to-be-shares-her-story"},"modified":"2019-05-24T15:10:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-24T20:10:59","slug":"scholar-to-be-shares-her-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winnipegfreepress.com\/our-communities\/metro\/2019\/05\/24\/scholar-to-be-shares-her-story","title":{"rendered":"Scholar-to-be shares her story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feven Dawit Asfaha had to face her fears to share her story.<\/div>\n
The Grade 12 Gordon Bell High School student was one of the featured speakers at the Westland Foundation’s 2019 Fundraising Breakfast on May 15 at the RBC Convention Centre. <\/div>\n
“It was great, it helped me overcome my fears of talking in front of a huge number of people,” Asfaha said. “I spoke about how education is very important and how costly it can be to go from high school into university.”<\/div>\n
Asfaha is a soon-to-be Westland scholar who will be receiving financial support from the foundation to pursue her dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. Since 2009, the foundation has awarded 762 scholarships to inner-city youth totalling over $461,500.<\/div>\n
Asfaha arrived in Winnipeg with her parents and three sisters in 2015. Born in Eritrea, her mother decided to move the family to Sudan in 2009 to make a better life. <\/div>\n
“Everything was more expensive every day and if we were to turn eight or above we could not leave the country,” Asfaha said. “Two days before I turned eight we left the country.”<\/div>\n
They lived in Sudan for six years before coming to Canada. Asfaha says she experienced a bit of culture shock when she arrived, but has since adjusted to life in Winnipeg and is working towards her goals. <\/div>\n
“It was very different, there were a lot of different people and cultures that I met here,” she said. “I knew how to speak English, but I wasn’t perfect at it, so when I started school I had a little bit of hard time to understand some people.”<\/div>\n
She discovered her love of science in the biology lab at Gordon Bell. Last year was the first time she had taken science classes since Grade 7.<\/div>\n
“I did not take biology before or chemistry or physics and so when I started taking them they started to introduce me to concepts that made me want to major in neurosurgery,” Asfaha said, adding that she’s also a fan of doing dissections in class.<\/div>\n
Science has helped her look at the world in a different way and has piqued her curiosity.<\/div>\n
“I don’t find it simple, but I also find it very interesting because every day you learn different things.”<\/div>\n
She is headed to the University of Manitoba in September, where she will start working on a degree in biochemistry. <\/div>\n
When asked what her family thinks of her dream of becoming a neurosurgeon Asfaha said, “They’re very proud… they left their country to see me succeed and reach my goals.”<\/div>\n
Receiving a scholarship to pursue that dream has also allowed Asfaha to pay back some of what her parents have sacrificed.<\/div>\n
“It means a lot because by getting that scholarship I can use it to buy my university books or any (thing) that I might need for school,” she said. “I don’t want my parents to pay everything for me, I want to relieve some of that financial burden.”<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Feven Dawit Asfaha had to face her fears to share her story.<\/p>\n

The Grade 12 Gordon Bell High School student was one of the featured speakers at the Westland Foundation’s 2019 Fundraising Breakfast on May 15 at the RBC Convention Centre. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Supplied\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Supplied Photo\nFeven Dawit Asfaha (second from right) with Milka Tewolde, Natalie Thompson and Kristen Wynnobel at the Westland Foundation\u2019s 2019 Fundraising Breakfast.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n

“It was great, it helped me overcome my fears of talking in front of a huge number of people,” Asfaha said. “I spoke about how education is very important and how costly it can be to go from high school into university.”<\/p>\n

Asfaha is a soon-to-be Westland scholar who will be receiving financial support from the foundation to pursue her dream of becoming a neurosurgeon. Since 2009, the foundation has awarded 762 scholarships to inner-city youth totalling over $461,500.<\/p>\n

Asfaha arrived in Winnipeg with her parents and three sisters in 2015. Born in Eritrea, her mother decided to move the family to Sudan in 2009 to make a better life. <\/p>\n

“Everything was more expensive every day and if we were to turn eight or above we could not leave the country,” Asfaha said. “Two days before I turned eight we left the country.”<\/p>\n

They lived in Sudan for six years before coming to Canada. Asfaha says she experienced a bit of culture shock when she arrived, but has since adjusted to life in Winnipeg and is working towards her goals. <\/p>\n

“It was very different, there were a lot of different people and cultures that I met here,” she said. “I knew how to speak English, but I wasn’t perfect at it, so when I started school I had a little bit of hard time to understand some people.”<\/p>\n

She discovered her love of science in the biology lab at Gordon Bell. Last year was the first time she had taken science classes since Grade 7.<\/p>\n

“I did not take biology before or chemistry or physics and so when I started taking them they started to introduce me to concepts that made me want to major in neurosurgery,” Asfaha said, adding that she’s also a fan of doing dissections in class.<\/p>\n

Science has helped her look at the world in a different way and has piqued her curiosity.<\/p>\n

“I don’t find it simple, but I also find it very interesting because every day you learn different things.”<\/p>\n

She is headed to the University of Manitoba in September, where she will start working on a degree in biochemistry. <\/p>\n

When asked what her family thinks of her dream of becoming a neurosurgeon Asfaha said, “They’re very proud… they left their country to see me succeed and reach my goals.”<\/p>\n

Receiving a scholarship to pursue that dream has also allowed Asfaha to pay back some of what her parents have sacrificed.<\/p>\n

“It means a lot because by getting that scholarship I can use it to buy my university books or any (thing) that I might need for school,” she said. “I don’t want my parents to pay everything for me, I want to relieve some of that financial burden.”<\/p>

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