Jean Lumb Foundation Scholarships Are Open Now!

The 27th annual Jean Lumb Awards celebrate high school students of Chinese heritage across a dozen different scholarships!

The Jean Lumb Foundation's 27th annual scholarship program is open now for applications! A dozen awards of $1,000 each are open to Canadian high school students — grades 9 through 12 — of Chinese heritage.

You can apply for one or more of the twelve awards, but beware you'll need a separate application for each! Let's take a look at what's available this year from the Jean Lumb Foundation. But first, let's take a moment to learn about Jean herself.

The story of Jean Lumb

Jean Lumb (nee Wong), one of twelve children, was born in Nanaimo, B.C. She left school at the age of 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and opened her own grocery store at the age of 18.

Jean Lumb was the first Chinese Canadian woman to receive the Order of Canada for her tireless community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada's immigration laws that separated Chinese families and for her contribution in saving Chinatowns in Toronto and other cities.

This is a condensed version of Jean's many achievements: for the full story, visit the Jean Lumb website.

Jean Lumb Foundation scholarships for 2024

Here are the twelve scholarship categories for this year. Four have been newly-added for 2024!

Curious what these scholarship categories represent, exactly? Find a full breakdown, with definitions for each award, here on the Jean Lumb Foundation website.

Bonus scholarship for a University of Toronto - Scarborough applicant

On top of these twelve $1,000 scholarships outlined above, a separate entrance award will automatically be offered to a Jean Lumb Foundation applicant who enrolls at the University of Toronto - Scarborough campus.

No application is required for this special entrance scholarship; if you apply for a Jean Lumb award, you'll be considered for the University of Toronto - Scarborough award too.

How to apply for a Jean Lumb Foundation scholarship

To be eligible for a Jean Lumb Foundation scholarship, you must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, of Chinese heritage, attending high school in Canada, with plans to attend college or university. If you've already won a Jean Lumb Award in the past, you're no longer eligible (but you could always become a donor!).

International students in Canada on a study permit are not eligible to apply.

Eligible students are welcome to apply for more than one scholarship, but a separate application form submission is required for each award.

Jean Lumb Award application process

To apply, you'll need to fill out the online form — using a Gmail address is recommended. The deadline to submit your completed application is May 24, 2024!

The form itself is pretty simple, and will only take you a few minutes to complete. The real work is in the supporting documents. Here's what you need to include with your application form:

Supporting documents for your Jean Lumb Award application

Pay close attention to the requirements for documents. They must be in a single PDF file, including your name and the award category in the PDF file name: eg, "FirstName_LastName_InnovationInTechnology.pdf". Otherwise, your supporting docs should appear in the following order:

• A summary of your achievements in 500 words or less (mandatory) — this is often known as a "personal essay"
• A copy of your resumé (mandatory)
• A transcript of your courses and grades (mandatory)
• At least two reference letters (mandatory). At least one reference letter must be from a staff member at your school
• Samples of artwork, news articles, and so on (optional)

All your documents must be in a single PDF, in the order described. You can use a free service like I Love PDF to merge your files. Be sure you don't include other file types; the Jean Lumb Foundation can only accept PDFs.

Jean Lumb Awards 2024 deadline: May 20, 2024

Be sure to get your completed application, with supporting documents, submitted online by May 24, 2024, at 11:59 PM Eastern. Late applications will not be accepted.

So, if you're interested in a Jean Lumb Award, visit the application form before the May 24 deadline. If you've got questions about the scholarship program or its requirements, please visit the Jean Lumb Awards FAQ page, or send an email to info@jeanlumbfoundation.ca.