Announcing the Winner of the 2019 MLD Scholarship

Announcing the Winner of the 2019 MLD Scholastic Scholarship

It is with great pleasure that we announce that this year’s MLD scholarship for $3000 has been awarded to Rolande Taylor. She is a student studying clinical psychology and also plays on the women’s basketball team for Trinity Western University. There were over 150+ applicants across the US and Canada that applied for the MLD scholarship, with the final 20 who were shortlisted having exceptional grades, extracurricular commitments, leadership experiences and motivating stories of overcoming hardships and adversities.

Rolande Taylor was adopted from Haiti as a toddler and, as she has grown up in Canada, has had to face obstacles that are quite unique. She has had to pursue her own identity, both as a daughter and sister in a typical “Canadian” family, neighbourhood and school while also exploring her biological Haitian birth background.

Recognizing and working through these unique circumstances has taught Rolande empathy for children who find themselves in similar situations. Rolande understands that she can offer other adopted children a sincere listening ear and a calm sounding board for thoughts, ideas and opinions on adoption and identity related issues.

In order to facilitate this non-judgemental and supportive environment, Rolande has created a group for Haitian-born adopted children and has named it the “Faith and Love Kids Club.”

Rolande states, “I want to help youth that are struggling through adolescence or adoption. While attending Trinity Western I meet new people that share in my desire to help youth. I plan to expand Faith and Love Kid’s club and incorporate a support group for adopted Trinity students that may like to connect and share their story. I am forever grateful for the people in my life that guided me to get to where I am today. I want to that guiding light that helps other people find their way through hard times.”

Chad Larson of MLD Wealth Management, and co-founder of the scholarship, notes that this scholarship was created because “we believe that by supporting the development of students who possess vision, drive, compassion and a thirst for knowledge, we can improve society and drive industry. Selecting Rolande as the winner out of the pool of applicants was incredibly difficult because there were so many highly qualified and exemplary students, but she showed that despite adversities, she could set clear goals, accomplish them, and lift up others while in the process.”

The MLD Annual Scholastic Scholarship is about celebrating and supporting such students with these attributes. We commend all the amazing applicants that applied and wish all of them the best of success in their academic endeavours and life pursuits.