Student honours Grandmothers

Arriving in Canada from China in August 2009, Brandon University student Victor Wang has never forgotten the lessons taught to him by his two grandmothers. The women had nurtured him from the time he was born, but he had to leave them when he moved to Brandon to pursue his studies. His grandmothers’ strong belief in education and serving people instilled in Victor an appreciation for learning and giving back. “(My grandmothers) taught me to serve for the common good and society,” says Victor. “They are always serving people with an optimistic attitude.”

In his final year of the Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies (ADES) Program, Victor wanted to honour the two women he deeply misses. He has done so by establishing The Huijun Yu – Zihui Yang (Grandma) Scholarship in Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies. For Victor, this scholarship serves a dual purpose: It is an opportunity to acknowledge the influence his grandmothers had on his life while supporting deserving students in the Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies Program. “I knew before even coming to Canada that I would someday set up a scholarship in recognition of my grandmothers,” he says. He hopes to pass along this generosity and kindness to the younger generation believing this is the basic way in which society can keep functioning efficiently, while continuing to improve.