During lockdown, Elisa Rwagasana was among the many students who had to put their studies on hold. However, for her, this presented an opportunity to search for a scholarship to continue studying online.

"I wanted to keep on studying despite the challenges the world was facing. Some schools were continuing with their studies online. You can’t wait for an opportunity to come to you, you have to search for it,” she says.

The 17-year-old applied for a grade 12 course at Nancy Campbell Academy (NCA), a not-for-profit boarding and day school located in the city of Stratford, Ontario-Canada, and as luck would have it, she was among the few students across the globe selected to study at the school online.

After selection, with the closure of school campuses due to the pandemic, many students like Rwagasana could not travel to Canada to study.

Initially drawn to Nancy Campbell Academy’s emphasis on social justice and service to society, Rwagasana was disappointed she would only be able to interact with her classmates online.

However, NCA was able to bridge the digital divide with their unique education model across multiple time zones to help their students find purpose while serving others, even in uncertain times.

Throughout this Covid-19 period, the Gashora Girls student has been studying online, and is set to complete high school studies next month.

The Presidential Scholarship

In March this year, Rwagasana earned one of Canada’s largest undergraduate merit awards from Huron University while studying remotely. Out of 6,000 applicants, she received the Presidential Scholarship worth 100,000 Canadian dollars (roughly Rwf82m), making her family, school and country proud.

Nancy Eliott, Director of Student Placement at NCA, says from earning a place on the Principal’s Honour Roll to supporting her family and girls in her community through health and nutritional awareness programmes, Rwagasana’s commitment to service, academic excellence, extra-curricular involvement and leadership skills got her Huron’s Presidential Scholarship.

This significant grant will enable Rwagasana to further her education in Canada, which is a dream come true.

Serving others

While in school, she loved helping people in the community, and notes that the school played a key role in moulding her community work. She recalls how she would provide clothes to vulnerable families and visit sick people.

"Serving others is my life mission, I want to help girls learn how they can contribute to the environment, get quality education to prevent early pregnancy, and complete their studies and achieve their dreams,” she says.

In 2018, together with some friends, they started an organisation known as Hands and Heart in Eastern Province, which aims to promote quality education among young girls in the community.

"After doing some research in the community, we found that many girls were dropping out of school due to poverty and lack of scholastic materials to keep in class. Due to this, there have been many cases of teen pregnancy,” she says.

According to Rwagasana, the organisation started with only 10 girls and now, it has about 40.

"Through fundraising and other initiatives, we pay school fees for these girls, provide them with essential needs like sanitary towels and other scholastic materials which keep them in school,” she adds.

They also follow-up on the girls’ progress once a week and discuss goals and aspirations for the future.

"Young girls, I believe, should not be victims of society, rather, they are destined to make it a better place. And one way to achieve this is by ensuring they get quality education,” she says.

Rwagasana is also currently working on a project which aims at fighting malnutrition in children in rural areas of Rwanda, through nutritious cookies.

"I believe we are meant to help each other, I hope to use all the resources I have to help as many people as possible grow so that they build the community and create an impact on the world,” she adds.