York University future student Sosina Tilahun will receive one year of free tuition as part of the University’s “this is my time” contest jointly presented by MuchMusic.
Tilahun plans to enrol in York University’s film program offered by the Faculty of Fine Arts. She was chosen from a large pool of prospective students who crystallized their visions in 140 characters or less about how their York degrees will help them to achieve their goals and impact society. The winning vision in her own words: To help make education accessible to every girl in developing countries.
Last week, York President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri presented a symbolic cheque to Tilahun. As the contest winner, Tilahun spent an afternoon on the University’s Keele campus as a co-host for MuchMusic’s Videoflow Takeover with VJ Phoebe Dykstra. The program will be broadcast at various times today on the MuchMusic channel.
“I want to study at York because it’s got the best film program and I feel very lucky to get free tuition to come here,” says Tilahun, a resident of London, Ontario. “At first, I really didn’t think I had a chance to win because there were so many tweets. But when I was contacted, I was very, very happy!”
Tilahun was raised in Somalia, where her family had taken refuge after fleeing Ethiopia. She wants to use her York education to create awareness about the importance of education for girls around the world. “We have the right to education,” says Tilahun, who hopes to create documentary and short films to fulfill her vision.
“I felt that because I’m really passionate about it, I’ll tweet about it and say it to the world,” she says. The future student contest complements the vision exchange campaign for current students, which recently awarded one year of free tuition to Human Resources Management student Jacqueline Tran.