Second Ray's Place scholarship awarded
Nottawa’s Taylor May, who will study kinesiology at Brock University in the fall, has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Ray’s Place Scholarship.
The award has a potential total value of $20,000, payable at $5,000 a year over four years of study, provided that May maintains particular academic averages in her courses.
The prize is instrumental in realizing the main objective of Ray’s Place – to increase the number of students who acquire post-secondary education. In order to qualify for the scholarship, students have to be residents of Clearview Township and graduate from a high school in Simcoe County. They also have to exhibit both leadership qualities and financial need.
May certainly qualifies on both of those fronts. A standout student and athlete who prides herself at mentoring younger team and classmates, May has come a long way since the “rough patch” she went through in Grade 10 after her father committed suicide.
“There’s no way I even saw myself graduating, let alone receiving an award like this,” says May of those days.
Crediting her rugby coach with giving her the inspiration to turn things around, May eventually decided to “ditch” her old friends and throw herself headlong into student life.
“I found that high school was much better when you got involved,” she said. She also worked hard, taking a part-time job at the Candy Factory to offset her mother’s seasonal income, and eventually graduating with top marks.
Before hearing about the Ray’s Place scholarship, May had accepted a position at the University of Guelph-Humber, where she’d been offered a $5,000 entrance scholarship. But her heart was with the kinesiology program at Brock. When a guidance councillor at Collingwood Collegiate Institute called all students who live in Clearview to her office and encouraged them to apply for the Ray’s Place scholarship before the deadline, she jumped at the chance. “I’m really thankful,” she said of winning.
May’s hope is to one day become a physiotherapist. “I’ve always loved sports, and been interested in the human body,” she said.
No one involved in the day-to-day operations of Ray’s Place was involved in the selection of May for the scholarship, with the decision being made by an independent committee based on her academic merit and exemplary leadership skills.
The money for May’s scholarship has been provided to Ray’s Place by Tony and Anne Arrell. This is the second year that a four-year, $20,000 prize has been awarded. Last year’s scholarship, which went to Creemore resident Galen Yates, was provided by Ted and Marylou Morgan.
