Pitching in: Funding scholarships at Toronto Metropolitan University

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The organizer: Mohamed Lachemi

The pitch: Raising $10-million and climbing

The cause: To fund scholarships at Toronto Metropolitan University

As a child growing up in a small village in Algeria, Mohamed Lachemi faced numerous obstacles pursuing an education.

His parents had no formal education and limited resources to pay for him or his four siblings to attend university. Luckily, Dr. Lachemi received a scholarship to study engineering in Algeria and then won another award to pursue postgraduate studies in Canada. After completing a masters degree at L’Université de Sherbrooke he secured a fellowship to complete a PhD and then received another one to do postdoctoral research.

“I’m the oldest in the family and I was the first one to go to school, not to university. I was the first one to go to school,” he recalled. “I succeeded because of all the opportunities that were given to me through awards and scholarships.”

Dr. Lachemi, 61, has never forgotten how important those scholarships have been to his career and after becoming president of Toronto Metropolitan University in 2016 he launched a scholarship program to help students facing similar obstacles. “Without that type of support, I will not be doing the job that I do now as a president and I really wanted to have something to open the door for others, because I personally believe in the power of education,” he said.

He created the President’s Awards to Champion Equity, or PACE, and set a goal of raising $10-million to fund scholarships for students from underrepresented communities. He also contributed $100,000 to the fund.

Earlier this month, PACE surpassed the $10-million goal and the program currently supports nearly 6,000 students annually.

Dr. Lachemi is grateful to the many donors who have contributed to PACE and he plans to keep raising money to fund more scholarships. “We will continue because we think this initiative can really level the playing field and open doors for students,” he said. “That’s the beauty, when you open the door for others you see the potential.”