Seneca College RED 2020 - 39

GIVING
BACK

$4.42M
Total Fundraising Revenue
in 2019/20

Aneto Okoro creates Helping
Hand Award

PHOTO: IAN PATTERSON

Monthly
contributions
help students

helped inspired Ms. Okoro to
EVERY YEAR, as many as 2,600
awards or scholarships are given establish one for students like
her. However, when she first
to Seneca students and thouconsidered it, she wasn't sure
sands more receive bursaries.
she could afford it.
Part of this financial aid comes
" I was talking to someone
from generous donors, many
of whom are alumni - some are and I said, 'I'd really love to do
something like this but I would
even past award recipients
have to wait until I'm a senior
themselves.
manager or a partner'. "
Aneto Okoro is both. While
But when she learned about
studying at Seneca the award
she received in 2017 both eased different options for donating,
she realized how easy it would
her financial burden and
acknowledged her hard work as be for her to make monthly
payments.
an international student.
" The decision to make
" Having to work and then go
donations monthly made it as
to school is hard, especially
when Canada is more expensive painless as possible, " she laughs.
than the country you're coming " Sometimes I don't even remember I've paid an instalment
from, " Ms. Okoro says. " Then
until I see my bank statement. "
when you're thinking about
Ms. Okoro thinks if more
finances on top of your grades,
people knew they could donate
and trying to get work experiin this way, they would.
ence, it's really difficult. "
" I feel like it's much more
Knowing how that award

accessible to many people that
would love to do something like
this if they know that they can
do it monthly, " she says.
After becoming an engineer
in Nigeria, Ms. Okoro came to
Canada to study accounting,
initially at a different school. She
transferred to Seneca when she
discovered the Fraud Examination & Forensic Accounting
(FEA) program and went on to
complete the Financial Services
Compliance Administration
program, graduating in 2018.
She now works as a Senior
Forensic Analyst where she
conducts reviews for fraud and
money laundering to ensure
financial institutions are following government regulations.
Thinking back, she describes Seneca as a welcoming
and helpful place. She can tell
you stories of kindness and

speaks fondly of her professors,
her classmates and Seneca's
administrators.
The Helping Hand Award is
a $1,000 award for a full-time
international student in the FEA
program who has a GPA of 3.5
and has demonstrated financial
need. Ms. Okoro established the
award for five years.

To learn more about supporting Seneca
students by creating your own award,
bursary or scholarship, please contact Katie
Colvin at Katie.Colvin@senecacollege.ca.
Picture above: Aneto Okoro.

RED

2020

39
Seneca College RED 2020

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