Fopefoluwa (Fope) Oyewole | A future path: Driven Grade 12 student finds her footing in project management and supporting her local community
A born leader, Fopefoluwa (Fope) Oyewole seeks out opportunities to facilitate activities with her peers, both in and out of the classroom. Whether taking the lead for group projects or pitching student council to suggest and manage external student learning experiences, Fope enjoys challenging herself to organize and execute projects.
“I want to lead people,” Fope says. “I want to be able to stand in front of a group of people, assign them to different tasks that suit their strengths and use my skills to make a business or project effective.”
The annual Chris Royce Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a student who is compassionate and shows strong academic and leadership skills—honouring Chris Royce, Rosedale’s first classroom teacher who taught in Shenyang, China from 2014 until he passed away unexpectedly in 2019. A talented and caring educator, Chris was known to go above and beyond to support his students and colleagues. He was a knowledgeable and effective educator who knew how to connect with learners and motivate them to achieve success.
“Winning the Chris Royce Memorial Scholarship means a lot to me. I love how Rosedale was able to create an award to honour a teacher who gave so much to students. I am very honoured to be this year’s recipient,” says Fope.
“Fope can most easily be described as kind and caring. She is quiet, but beyond that extremely driven and adamant about achieving her goals,” says Tedimola Olayinka Victor, guidance counsellor and award nominator who has worked closely with Fope on various community service projects.
Outside of the classroom, Fope spends her time giving back to her community. She has volunteered time providing children and families from local charity homes and churches with food and other essentials collected from members of her community. She also chose to fulfill her Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) community service requirements by caring for children at a local church, ensuring they were taken care of and had access to essentials.
A decorated academic, this award is not the first of Fope’s accolades. In her previous British curriculum, Fope won awards for earning the highest grade in Business Studies, Accounting and Visual Arts. After transferring into Rosedale Global High School to earn her OSSD, she felt as though she was exposed to even more opportunities to demonstrate her academic merit.
“I have won an Ontario Gold Scholars award—my high school gives it to any student that earns 90% or above in every subject, and now the Chris Royce Memorial Scholarship. I feel very fortunate, these aren’t awards students can get from any school,” Fope explains. “Rosedale opened the door to these and many other opportunities.”
Reflecting on her previous curriculum, Fope says she didn’t consider her life after secondary school—she was only focused on passing her next exam. She credits Rosedale’s Transformative OSSD curriculum for exposing her to real-world application and innovation, allowing her to visualize how course content could relate to the real world. Asset-based learning gave her opportunities to explore topics further, conduct her own research, and develop interests toward which she could build her unique academic pathway.
“At Rosedale, I learned to think critically and analytically. The curriculum opened my eyes to real-word issues and empowered me to build the necessary skills to apply different solutions,” says Fope.
Being engaged in her OSSD studies led Fope to following more of her unique interests, ultimately allowing her to realize her dream career—project management. She quickly realized how her love of leading peers through the successful execution of various projects and activities could be a skillset she pursued for the rest of her life. When considering life after graduation, she tells us she has set her sights on applying to the Business Management at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, while advancing her project management skills, ultimately building a career in effectively managing teams and projects.
“I’m really glad to receive this scholarship because it will really help with my future, especially with my chances of getting into the University of Toronto,” says Fope.
Chris Royce Memorial Scholarship, Honourable mentions:
We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge all of our nominees and are pleased to extend Honourable Mentions to the following Rosedale Global High School students in the Global High School Program:
- Bazunu Oghenetejiri, Nigeria
- Bill Jiuyang Yu, China
- Eaindray Moe, Myanmar
- Hangfan Lin, China
- Maria Eduara Bonomo, Brazil
- Rick (Yiheng) Zhang, China
- Schuyler Liu (Liu Mengyao), China
- Tuo Li, China
- Yian Jin, China
- Yisheng Yuan, China
- Zay Lin Aung, Myanmar
The Chris Royce Memorial Scholarship Award submission dates for the 2023-2024 academic year will be announced late 2023.
