TRREB Members are passionate about the communities they work in because they live in them too. That’s why our Members are committed to making a difference in the lives of secondary school students on the path to higher education.

Fifteen years ago, TRREB introduced the Past President’s Scholarship Award, and since then, 50 high school students pursuing post-secondary education have received a total of $200,000 in scholarship money. Each year, TRREB hands out $15,000 to four students, including two $5,000 first-place and two $2,500 second-place scholarships. Starting next year, we will recognize more students with two third-place scholarships of $2,000 each and two fourth-place scholarships of $1,500 each.

But to win, giving back to the community and a strong essay on timely real estate topics is required. 

This year, we received a record number of essays and the competition was tight. We’re excited to announce the four students who won!

First-place winner Hana Mirbagheri  wrote her essay about what it might be like for young Canadians looking to purchase a home in the near future.

To better understand the journey to homeownership, Hana headed to TRREB.ca to learn what’s happening in the market right now. After writing her essay and winning the top prize, Hana said, “being able to achieve homeownership later on is being able to pay off student loans and TRREB’s Past President Scholarship is helping me achieve those goals and something I’m really excited about.”

Hana will join the University of Toronto for the Engineering Science program in the fall. She is eager to become a biomedical engineer with the goal to design prosthetic limbs in the health sciences field. 

Runner-up Alexa Amelio’s  interest peaked when she saw a scholarship surrounding the real estate market. 

Alexa explored condo living and moving outside of the GTA, but also said “I really enjoyed planning out my essay. It gave me a chance to understand what the housing market looks like, and the struggles many people face when looking to purchase homes,” added Alexa.

In September, Alexa will be attending Queen’s University for their Commerce program and hopes to pursue a career in corporate finance, investment banking or consulting. 

For the second essay question, it’s something we’ve long called for – the need for local governments to address the housing shortage facing our growing population. 

So how can policymakers think ahead and be ready for the GTA’s population to increase to more than 10 million people by 2041?

First-place winner Sarah Ahmed  wrote her essay on loosening zoning laws and the use of land to create more housing.

When planning her essay, Sarah made sure to talk about, “the current housing situation, then I looked at what governments did in the past, and what they can do now.”

This fall, Sarah will study Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She’s looking to pursue Mechatronics Engineering to expand her knowledge and enrich her passion for design, innovation, and robotics.

Following closely behind was Matthew Berger . Like TRREB, Matthew addressed the GTA’s need to increase transit and schools across our communities to adapt to the growing population.

“I started looking at solutions that are out there, learning more about housing and drawing my own conclusions – that was something TRREB’s Past President Scholarship helped me do,” said Matthew.  

Matthew is headed to the University of Waterloo to study Mathematics and plans to major in Combinatorics and Optimization. In the future, he wants to pursue a career in the data analysis or cybersecurity field. 

Congratulations to our 2021 Past President’s Scholarship winners!

Learn more  about TRREB’s Past President’s Scholarship, including when to look out for the 2022 scholarship application. 

The post TRREB Members Invest in GTA Students appeared first on TRREB Wire .

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