For the second time in Scarborough Walk of Fame history, the Rising Star Award will be given to young leaders who are empowering people in their community and beyond.

 

2022 Rising Star Inductees

Aisha Farman Khan graduated from Western University’s Class of 2022 with an Honours Specialization Bachelor degree in Health Science with Distinction as a Western Scholar. She has spent most of her life in Scarborough.  She is a part-time poet and has had poems published in anthologies, magazines and online publications. Her debut collection of poems is titled Zamana: the time and the world, which she wrote under her pseudonym, Anaa Gulzar. She has spent much time volunteering at her local mosque, the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. For over 10 years, she has helped distribute meals during Ramadan. The  founder of “my heART”, a volunteer, not-for-profit organization dedicated to spreading creativity and using the arts to help others, Aisha has worked in hospitals and homeless shelters to engage more people in the creative process.

Harshi is currently attending McMaster University, studying Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences & Co-op (iBioMed). She has demonstrated significant mentorship and leadership skills in her community. At the age of 14, she began volunteering at the Scarborough Historical Museum. In recognition of her hard work and dedication to the museum, she was promoted to a mentorship role. She also helped organize special events at the museum. She was the recipient of the Ontario Volunteer Service Award in November 2019 to applaud her dedication, leadership, creativity, and positive impact at the museum. Harshi has involved herself in various global initiatives, such as World Vision, the Waterloo Initiative, Free the Children, and Oxfam to help tackle many environmental, societal, and humanitarian issues in the community.

Kataem Enoth-Luwunzu O’Connor was born May 16th, 2000 and grew up in Scarborough. He is of Ugandan and Trinidadian descent. He started acting and modeling at the age of 10 with the support of his family. He has been featured in TV shows including Degrassi, L.A Complex, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Raising Expectations, The Expanse and a reoccurring role as Adam Parker on Canada’s longest running series Heartland. Kataem attended high school at Wexford Collegiate where he was allowed to perform and build his craft in front of large audiences while juggling his TV career. After years of hard work, Kataem now has over 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

Dedicated to making a difference in her community, Maya Morose is an avid activist and volunteer. She studies Gender and Social Justice as well as Teaching at Trent University. Maya is the Co-founder of Pinball for Change; a series of charity pinball tournaments to raise funds for local and global initiatives. Since 2016, Maya has helped raise over $26,000 to build two classrooms in Kanambu, Ecuador in the Amazon region. In the summer of 2019 Maya went on a volunteer service trip to Ecuador to work on building water wells and visited the classrooms funded by Pinball for Change. Since then, further fundraising has focused on local initiatives including the Downie Wenjack Fund and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

2018 Rising Star Inductees

Ashley Rose Murphy

Delicia Raveenthrarajan

Ravicha Ravinthiran

Yasmin Rajabi

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THEIR BIO