Creating talent who continues to serve

Razia’s path has always led back to caring for others. In Afghanistan, she worked as a midwife in hospitals, completed a master’s degree in midwifery education and later taught at universities. After beginning at NorQuest as a Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) and English as an additional language student, she completed her Licensed Practical Nurse program and is building a new future in healthcare in Canada.  

That future once felt much less certain. When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, Razia made the difficult decision to leave the country and begin again somewhere new. She arrived in Canada with years of education and professional experience, but adapting to a new language, education system and country meant finding a new way forward. “Every time in my life I tried to be hard working,” she says.  

NorQuest’s LINC program became one step on that new path. From there, Razia continued into the Licensed Practical Nurse program, returning to the field she had dedicated so much of her life to. At a critical point in that journey, receiving an award gave her more than financial support. It gave her encouragement and a sense that someone believed in what she could still accomplish.  

“This support at that time created a path for me,” Razia says. The award helped create greater stability as she continued her education and worked toward rebuilding her professional life in Canada. Razia brought the experience, determination and ambition. Your support helped make it more possible for her to keep moving forward.  

For Razia, that encouragement carried its own weight. “I was seen for my potential, for where I could go.” As she progresses through the Licensed Practical Nurse program, the knowledge she built as a midwife and educator now has another opportunity to grow, with the potential to serve patients and communities here in Canada.  

She also knows that the award will continue beyond her. Because the endowment supports students year after year, another learner will one day receive the same message Razia received: your potential matters, and there is a path forward.  

That is what your endowment continues to make possible. For Razia, it helped connect a life already devoted to healthcare with a new opportunity to continue that work in Canada. For the students who follow her, it will offer that same encouragement at a moment when the next step matters most. Thank you for continuing to open that path.