OAKVILLE, Ontario, Aug. 19, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The FCT Charitable Foundation (FCTCF) announced the five recipients of The Honourable William G. Davis Scholarship today at a celebratory event at the Foundation's home office. Five successful students were each awarded a $1,000 scholarship to be applied to their post-secondary education.
"Thank you to all of the students who applied to The Honourable William G. Davis Scholarship and to the selection committee members for dedicating their time to this process," said Michael LeBlanc, chair, FCTCF and chief executive officer, FCT. "We saw an overwhelming number of applicants this year with more than 600 applications, compared to 60 in our first year. The quality of these applications was undeniable. The FCTCF is proud to be able to offer these scholarships to these deserving students, and hope that we can play a small role in their continued success. Congratulations again to the scholarship recipients. We wish you the best of luck during this upcoming school year."
The 2016 William G. Davis Scholarship recipients (listed in no particular order):
• Nichole Reid, University of Alberta, Alberta
• Liam Ma, McGill University, Quebec
• Zoe Chan, McGill University, Quebec
• Bernice Ho, Queen's University, Ontario
• Vincent Nguyen, University of Alberta, Alberta
At this year's event, the FCTCF welcomed back past scholarship recipient Muluba Habanyama to speak about her story as an HIV advocate. She spoke to the audience of more than 200 employees and special guests about how last year's scholarship has helped her in her post-secondary journey, where she became valedictorian of her graduating class.
The FCTCF would also like to thank John Oliver, MP; Indira Naidoo-Harris, MPP; Mayor Rob Burton of Oakville; and Nick Hutchins, Oakville Town Councillor for attending the event. The FCTCF also thanks its integrated facility management partner, Sodexo, for its partnership and providing the refreshments for the celebration event.
About the Honourable William G. Davis Scholarship Program
The scholarship program is named after The Honourable William G. Davis, the 18th Premier of Ontario, whose passion for education contributed to his work in building Ontario's community college system. For the past decade, Mr. Davis has served as the Chair of FCT's board of directors. He also served on the board of directors for FCT's parent company, First American, from 1997-2013.
Students were asked to fill out an application form, which included their community and volunteer involvement, any extra-curricular activities, and an essay explaining to the committee why they deserve the scholarship. Each application was then reviewed by a panel of teaching professionals who advised the FCTCF on their selections in August 2016. In order to qualify for the scholarships, each recipient must be accepted or currently enrolled at a post-secondary Canadian institution.
About the FCT Charitable Foundation
The FCT Charitable Foundation, a private charity foundation (registration #80435 3456 RR0001), supports charitable activities to alleviate homelessness and poverty, and offers scholarships to individuals attending post-secondary institutions in Canada. Through the FCT Charitable Foundation, FCT employees are directly empowered to select and support local charities in the regions in which they work, enabling FCT employees to put into action, in very meaningful ways, their passion to serve.
About FCT
Founded in 1991, the FCT group of companies is based in Oakville, Ontario, and has over 800 employees across the country. The group provides industry-leading title insurance, default solutions and other real-estate-related products and services to approximately 1,250 lenders, 43,000 legal professionals and 5,000 recovery professionals, as well as real estate agents, mortgage brokers and builders, nationwide.
The Great Place to Work® Institute has named FCT one of Canada's Top 50 Best Workplaces for two consecutive years (2015, 2016) and certified FCT as a Great Place to Work. FCT was also named one of Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™ in North America. FCT's parent company, First American Financial Corporation, was named by Fortune® magazine as one of the 100 best companies to work for in America in 2016.
For more information on FCT, please visit the company website at www.fct.ca.
† The FCT group of companies includes FCT Insurance Company Ltd., which provides title and valuation insurance with the exception of commercial policies, which are provided jointly by FCT Insurance Company Ltd. and First American Title Insurance Company. Services by First Canadian Title Company Limited.
A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=41156
