A graduate from White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville has been awarded a scholarship that guarantees her $40,000 towards education over four years for achieving an average of over 90 per cent in high school in addition to community involvment.
Oakville's Selin Ulugbay has recieved Wilfrid Laurier University’s Laurier Scholars Award, making her one of only seven students selected.
From a pool of over 380 applicants nationwide last year, Ulugbay was the recipient from the Faculty of Human and Social Science at Laurier’s Brantford campus.
This scholarship, valued at $40,000 over four years, recognizes high-achieving high school students (with averages above 90 per cent) with a passion for academic excellence, career development, and community engagement, according to the school.
A first-generation immigrant from Türkiye, Selin's journey to Canada began at the age of four, and she has since shown strong commitment to her studies and her community, especially through 13 years as a figure skater at Skate Oakville and EDGE.
But Ulugbay's aspirations extend beyond academic success; she's interested in pursuing criminal law.
“I always wanted to be a lawyer, and then as I learned about the justice system in Canada, I’ve come to realize there are a lot of inequalities and have become passionate about criminal justice and am now pursuing the path of being a criminal defence lawyer,” said Ulugbay
Ulugbay's journey to the courthouse will involve much more than four years of study. She will spend her first two years at Laurier obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology, year three to five will be spent at the University of Sussex for a law degree, and her last year will be spent at Laurier to finish her undergrad and write the NCA exams.
"By the end of six years, I will be able to practice law in Canada," says Ulugbay. “I want to do pro bono work, I believe that legal services and fair representation should be available to all, not just the wealthy. I’m interested in not just representing clients but also advocating for a more inclusive justice system in Canada.”