Osadebamwen Osawaye | Maple Canadian College Scholarship winner leverages his Ontario Secondary School Diploma to gain acceptance to 12 elite global universities
Osadebamwen (Deba) Osawaye is the 2022-2023 recipient of the Maple Canadian College Scholarship, and has recently completed his Grade 12 year at his Rosedale Global High School partner school located in Nigeria. With his transformative high school education complete, he will be attending the University of Bristol to study aerospace engineering—and has received 12 offers from elite global universities.
Deba is focused on studying aerospace engineering in a global university as his next step in education, and knew he wanted to work with airplanes as early as three years old, when his father would bring him toy planes after his many travels. While his friends spend their free time playing popular video games, Deba finds joy in spending hours on his flight simulator—when he is able to take a break from studying and focusing on his future! With a goal of studying aerospace engineering, Deba knew that Rosedale’s Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) was the best pathway for him—the Rosedale OSSD was able to provide him access to differentiated education that allowed him to focus on his strengths, interests, and unique goals—all while opening options for higher education. After receiving the scholarship to attend Rosedale Global High School at Maple Canadian College and earning his OSSD, Deba had to choose between his many university acceptances—three of which are from his dream schools.
Deba received offers from almost every university to which he applied; he focused on universities in America, for their prestigious aerospace programs, and the UK, as he has family in the country and spent the first 10 years of his life in London, England. Deba was accepted into aerospace engineering programs at Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University Northwest, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of Glasgow, the University of Minnesota, the University of Sheffield, the University of Southampton, Virginia Tech, and his three top choices: the University of Bristol, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne and the University of Maryland.
“Initially I was afraid of the workload in university, but after the past year studying the OSSD, I know what will be expected of me,” Deba says. “I’m not worried about it now, I’m actually excited to move to the UK and to study aerospace engineering in a top university.”
Deba initially transferred into Rosedale’s OSSD program at Maple Canadian College for increased access to global universities, but shortly into his first semester he learned to appreciate this pathway as a holistic approach for differentiated education. The variety of assessments fostered improved time-management, communication and organization, and the comprehensive global citizenship education diversified Deba’s real-world perspectives.
“A-Levels, my previous British curriculum, really prepares you for schools in the UK. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to school in the UK, in Canada or in America,” Deba explains. “But the OSSD gives me access to UK universities, Canadian universities and American universities. It equips me adequately for all three countries.”
Last October, Deba was one of select high-achieving students chosen for a one-on-one meeting with a recruiter from University College London during the Global Student Success Forum. The forum was a unique experience for Deba; while he connected with university recruiters on his own and researched the best schools for his individualized pathway, he remembers the positive impact of the event as it provided access to many elite global universities in one virtual setting.
“It was very helpful having the one-on-one experience; I got to ask a lot of questions that may have been difficult to ask in a larger setting, like a more standard university fair,” Deba says. “I have since reached out to other universities through email, but that really isn’t as comprehensive as the intimate connections made at the Global Student Success Forum.”
Deba is thankful for the pathway Maple Canadian College provided with the OSSD Scholarship; he is ready and excited for the next step in his academic journey in the UK, and hopes to one day work with Nigerian governments on expanding and improving transportation infrastructure in the country.
“I picked engineering because it’s centred in problem solving and it’s universal; the concepts I will learn in engineering, can be applied to other spaces,” Deba says.
