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2019 AEBC/T-Base Scholarship Program launched!
The 2019 AEBC/T-Base Scholarship Program is now accepting applications.
The application deadline for the 2019 AEBC and T-Base Communications scholarship program is Friday, March 29th, 2019. All applications and supporting materials must be received by AEBC by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, March 29th, 2019, in order to be considered.
INTRODUCTION
The Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) is a grassroots organization that works to improve the lives of blind, deafblind and partially sighted Canadians through education, empowerment, and advocacy.
Each year, the AEBC offers scholarships to recognize outstanding blind, deafblind and partially sighted post-secondary students. This year, we are pleased to offer four awards in total.
THE T-BASE COMMUNICATIONS SCHOLARSHIP
This year, there will be two T-Base Communications Scholarships, valued at $1,000 each. They are designed to help students pursue their educational endeavours and are not limited to any one discipline. These scholarships will be awarded for the 2019-2020 academic year beginning in the fall semester of 2019.
THE AEBC SCHOLARSHIP
Two AEBC Scholarships (worth $1,000 each) will be offered. We are honoured that, for the third year in a row, an anonymous donor has made these two awards possible.
AWARD CRITERIA
Scholarships will be awarded on the basis of:
Academic performance;
Community involvement; and
Overcoming adversity.
While each criterion will contribute in the overall evaluation process, equal weight will not be applied when determining a final score. Rather, each criterion will serve to assist in distinguishing the exceptionalities and strengths among the candidates.
The Student and Education Council Committee has five members. This committee reviews all applications and selects all scholarship recipients.
The scholarship winners will be announced during the 2019 AEBC National Conference and Annual General Meeting in Ottawa, ON, on April 26. During the first week of May 2019, recipients will receive a confirmation email. In September 2019—and following confirmation of enrollment for the 2019-2020 academic year—recipients will receive their cheques in the mail.
APPLICANT QUALIFICATIONS
To be eligible for this scholarship program, applicants must meet all of the following qualifications:
They must be blind, deafblind or partially sighted. For our purposes, one is considered to be “blind” if he/she has no vision or only light perception in the better of the two eyes, and “partially sighted” if he/she has a visual acuity of 20/60 or less (as measured on the Snellan eye chart) in the better eye with best correction, or if the visual field measures less than twenty degrees.
They must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.
They must be attending (or planning to attend) a post-secondary institution during the period between September 2019 and April 2020 on at least a part-time basis (i.e. taking the equivalent of at least two courses per semester).
They must be studying at either the undergraduate or graduate level, or in college, vocational, educational upgrading, or performing arts programs.
They must be studying (or planning to study) at a post-secondary institution in Canada. However, Canadian citizens or permanent residents studying abroad under an exchange program and paying fees to a Canadian educational institution are also eligible, as are students who choose to study abroad due to a lack of a similar program in Canada, failure to be accepted into a Canadian program, or the clear superiority of a program abroad.
Please note: scholarship winners will be required to provide their social insurance numbers for income tax purposes. Scholarships are taxable items and must be reported when income tax returns are filed.
Eligible applicants will be considered for the T-Base Communications and AEBC scholarships; a separate application for each is not required.
Previous applicants or past recipients of AEBC scholarships and T-Base Communications scholarships are eligible to reapply if qualified.
MEMBERSHIP IN AEBC
Because we in AEBC believe that membership benefits those who are blind, deafblind and partially sighted both collectively and individually, an annual membership in AEBC will be offered to all non-member first-time applicants. This affords these applicants an opportunity to learn about and participate in our organization beyond the scholarship process, should they wish to do so.
COMPLETING THE APPLICATION
Applications may be submitted in either English or French. Please double check that the application is complete before submitting it. A complete application comprises the following four items:
The application form. Download the application form in English (as a Microsoft Word document). Download the application form in French (as a Microsoft Word document).
A copy of the applicant’s most recent transcript. This need not be an official copy – a printout from the school’s website is acceptable. We may ask for an official copy at a later date.
A personal essay covering the following topics, not to exceed four pages in total (approximately 2000 words): (a) A personal statement: This is an opportunity for the applicant to describe him/herself, provide background on his/her visual condition (and any additional medical or disability information that may be relevant), the applicant’s academic goals, interests, school activities, work experience, and so on. In this essay, please answer this question: “What barriers or obstacles have you faced and conquered in your life as a result of your disability?” This may include financial hardship. Please do not simply send a resume. (b) “Accessible education”: The applicant should tell us how accessibility in learning makes a difference in his/her education. It should explain which format (e.g. print, large print, Braille, audio, etc.) is most important for his/her success as a student and why. NOTE: We can only know applicants through the information they provide. Please be thorough. (c) A reflection on the applicant’s community involvement: The applicant should tell us about the activities he/she has been a part of as a means to give back to the community. In addition, the applicant should briefly explain the role and importance of community involvement in his/her life. NOTE: We can only know applicants through the information they provide. Please be thorough.
One letter of reference: Each Applicant must include one letter of reference (must be current—written in the last 12 months) from an individual who can comment in detail on the applicant’s academic progress, personal strengths, and any other aspects of his/her life that support the application. The individual may be an employer or supervisor, clergy member, academic advisor, department head, academic planner, etc. If possible, this reference letter should be forwarded with the application package. If the reference would prefer to send it directly to AEBC, please ensure that he/she clearly indicates in his/her email the student applicant’s name.
SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION
The deadline for submitting an application is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Friday, March 29th, 2019.
Each part of the application should be submitted as a separate electronic file, preferably in Microsoft Word (.DOC or .DOCX), Rich Text (.RTF), or plain text (.TXT) format. Only the above formats will be accepted. Some members of the scholarship committee are themselves blind, and picture files (.JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) are not accessible. Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) files may or may not be accessible to users who are blind; therefore, if possible, please avoid them. (We understand, however, that some documents, such as transcripts, may only come in one format from an institution.)
Please attach all of these documents to an email message and send them to: scholarship@blindcanadians.ca
Incomplete applications as well as any applications (complete or incomplete) received after 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on March 29th, 2019, will not be considered when awarding the scholarships.
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