A Burnaby student who arrived in Canada as a five-year-old refugee from war-torn South Sudan 12 years ago is among 21 students across the country being recognized for demonstrating “the highest ideals and qualities of citizenship and humanitarian service.”
Byrne Creek Grade 12 student, Margaret Anteros is one of this year’s recipients of the $28,000 Terry Fox Humanitarian Award, an award set up a year after the Canadian hero’s death in 1981 to recognize young people who embody his legacy by not only believing in a better world but striving to contribute to it.
A well rounded student, who played basketball, soccer and field hockey for her school while maintaining a 90 per cent average and taking advanced placement (AP) art, Anteros has also been heavily involved in volunteer work at her school and in the community.
She was president of the African Dream Club at Byrne Creek, raising money for clean-water projects in South Sudan. She co-founded the school’s Social Justice League and the Girls Leadership Group, which helps girls transition from elementary to high school with positive role models.
She also volunteers at Burnaby Neighbourhood House and with More Sports Canada.
For Anteros, who arrived in Canada with six siblings and a single mother, the work has been a way to give back.
She said it just didn’t feel right to accept the support her family was given without giving something in return.
“I can’t receive and not give anything,” she said. “To me, that does not feel right. As humans, we should all try to help each other as best as we can because we’re all struggling.
She credits her mom for her attitude.
“She’s a single mother, and raising us, it was hard,” Anteros said. “There’s seven kids in my family. I have a lot of friends whose parents have just kind of given up on them…My mother, she just never gives up. She’s always giving us support, no matter what we do in academics or anything. Getting that alone is uplifting and encourages me to give others support as well because I know how it feels to have support, and I’ve seen what it looks to not have support.”
Anteros said the extra programs at Edmonds Elementary, a school she attended for her first five years in Canada, also helped develop her potential.
Friendship Club – a Burnaby Neighbourhood House program that connects newcomers with other students and mentors – stands out.
“I joined and I started making new friends and I was learning more vocabulary as well, just like that, just because I was surrounded by people who spoke more English,” Anteros said. “It connected me with many other things as well.”
In the fall, Anteros will be the second of her siblings to attend university; her oldest sister is currently at Concordia in Montreal.
Anteros has chosen the University of Ottawa, where she’s been offered a $12,000 entrance scholarship.
She plans to study commerce for two years and then major in either economics or human resources development.
Her dream, she said, is to return to Africa someday and help countries there develop their potential.
