Alyshia Loria Memorial Scholarship Award
The goal of the Alyshia Loria Memorial Scholarship is to recognize a student of the graduating class at College Pierre Elliott Trudeau high school who has demonstrated perseverance in the face of hardship. Some examples of students that we would deem eligible for this award are as follows:
• A student that has struggled academically, but has demonstrated a positive attitude and a notable effort to improve, resulting in improved grades over the course of high school;
• A student that battles a mental health or medical illness and is successful in achieving their goals in spite of their illness. The student’s goals may vary and can be, for example, academic (e.g., honour’s list, receiving a grade of 80% or higher in a challenging class) or athletic (e.g., captain of a sports team, scoring a goal) in nature, etc.;
• A student from a low-income household with great potential and a desire to pursue post-secondary education.
Because people’s struggles are not always visible or publicly known, we suggest that students that want to apply for the scholarship write a short essay (~500-750 words) outlining the challenges that they face, how they persevere, and how they achieved their goals or what they hope to achieve in the future. The award will be valued at $1000 which will be presented to the recipient of the award during the graduation ceremony in June.
June 2019 Alyshia called up to receive the Most Improved Student Award
June 2019 Convocation – Alyshia Layne Loria
Alyshia’s Words
My name is Alyshia Loria. I am currently 20 years old and on August 18th 2021 I was diagnosed with Lupus SLE. I spent an entire month in the hospital wondering how my life has changed so drastically. Lupus is a mean disease which has caused me to have a butterfly shaped rash, extreme fatigue, chronic back pain, itchy skin, and inflammation throughout my whole body. My hair also started to fall out in large clumps and I have lost so much weight which has caused my self-esteem to plummet. Along with lupus I suffer from ADHD and depression which is just another challenge that affects my ability to learn . This disease has caused me to
give up a lot of things I love to do like be in the sun, hangout with my friends and overall enjoy my life as a 20 year old woman and at times it’s difficult to stay strong.
One of the biggest challenges I have to face is switching my career choice. I graduated highschool in 2019 from then I attended the University Of Manitoba from 2019-2021 hoping to get a bachelor’s degree in criminology. When I was diagnosed with lupus, with my medications to treat my disease I experienced brain fog and delusions as well as extreme fatigue which has taken a massive toll on my learning experience. Although I was enrolled for 2021-2022 university courses, I was unable to attend my online classes due to endless doctors appointments, brain fog and extreme fatigue. For the sake of my mental health and well-being I’ve chosen to take a different route. Since then I’ve made the conscious decision to drop out of university, and I am now going to pursue a career in makeup artistry. For me this decision was very difficult for me to make because I have always wanted to get a job as a CBSA officer which I would be on my feet all day and put myself in stressful situations but with chronic pain it’s just not an ideal career choice for me anymore.
Now, I am currently enrolled at the Salon Professional Academy for their summer 2022 makeup artistry course.I hope to graduate this course earning my certification in makeup artistry and plan on becoming a freelance makeup artist.
Lupus has also caused me to quit my part-time job as a cashier due to the inflammation in my hands and chronic pain so funds have been extremely limited for me. Makeup has always been something I’m extremely passionate about and I’m so happy I get to be able to express myself through this makeup artistry course. As a result of my hair loss I now wear a wig and feel more comfortable to be in an environment such as makeup artistry and feel as though I can be more accepted and confident. I’m so happy I get the opportunity to share my knowledge of makeup as my future career and am hoping to get this scholarship to help pay for the course this upcoming June. One thing about me though is I will not let this disease affect my future. I will not give up and will continue to fight everyday and raise awareness every chance I get.