Achi news desk-
The Scarborough Walk of Fame inducts new members into its group of honorees on Wednesday, including two young people who have worked to empower and inspire youth in their community.
The walk of fame, launched in 2006, has more than 55 inductees, according to its website. The names of the inductees are cast in metal stars which are placed in Scarborough town centre.
While the celebrity honors many who have spent decades making a difference, it also recognizes those who have already made an impact in their young lives, such as Atqiya Fariha, the 23-year-old founder of FeminSTEM, and Swabir Shariff, the 25. -year- age of the founder of The Good Guides.
The Good Guides is a youth mentoring programme, while FeminSTEM empowers young women to follow a path in the world of science, mathematics, engineering and technology (STEM).
“I hope that by receiving this award, I can inspire other young people who feel held back by the things that make them unique, even if it’s something as simply with their gender or age,” says Fariha.
For Shariff, having his name in Scarborough town center is a full circle moment.
“As a kid I could remember walking around the mall with my parents and even hanging around there in high school,” he said. “Being recognized by the center and the community in general adds a little bit of fuel to my tank.”
The honorees are chosen through community submissions, and there were more than 700 of them for this year’s list. Fariha and Shariff join a distinguished list of inductees, which includes David Onley, former lieutenant-governor of Ontario (inducted in 2006) and television and radio personality Marilyn Denis (inducted in 2009).
Charting a path for the next generation
Fariha started FeminSTEM with a friend in 2018 to help women find their way. According to the federal governmentwomen make up less than a quarter of people employed in STEM in Canada.
Before the pandemic, FeminSTEM held a summer camp for elementary school-aged girls that explored all STEM-related aspects of city building.
“Exploring these ideas that children would see day to day but may not know how these things are made,” he said. “Our aim was really to introduce them to the basis of STEM.”
During the pandemic, Fariha’s non-profit created a mentoring program for high school-age girls thinking about a career in STEM. The program connected them with women in different university programs.
Fariha says her favorite part of FeminSTEM is hearing from women who are considering a path in the field after participating in its programs.
Meanwhile, Shariff’s organization grew out of a feeling that many youth programs were too prescriptive. He says young people are autonomous and want more control.
“Instead of telling young people to come in and do a sports or arts programme,” he said, “we work with the young people to find out what their interests are, what they think is happening in the community and how they think. they can make a difference.”
His organization has done things like restart building workshops, hikes outside the city and a backpack giveaway for kids hosted by local youth.
Like Fariha, Shariff says seeing the success of children who go through his program is the most rewarding part. He said that some students had come to The Good Guides not having enough high school credits to apply for university.
“But four years later, here they are graduating with a degree and finding a job in a career they didn’t even know was out there for them,” he said.
Changing the perception of Scarborough
Glenn De Baremaeker, chairman of the walk of fame, says it’s meant to highlight the successes of a traditionally underrepresented and underserved part of Toronto.
“We have to get rid of this perception that Scarborough is the poor cousin, the second class citizen. And we have to let people know how great we are,” he said.
Apart from the new stars, the new inductees include those in the arts, sports, politics and other fields.
Here is the full list:
- Actors and brothers Shamier Anderson and Stephan James.
- Rowan Barrett, father of Raptor RJ Barrett and manager of the Canadian men’s basketball team.
- Former member of parliament for Scarborough Center Pauline Browes.
- Literacy advocate Camesha Cox.
- Entrepreneur Sam Ibrahim.
- Scarborough Walk of Fame founding member Marg Middleton.
- Cardiologist Dr Vivian Rambihar.
- Graphic artist Mark Stoddart.
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