When Aaliyah Awolesi arrived at UBC from Ontario, she wasn’t just pursuing a degree—she was searching for identity.

“Everyone else seemed to have it figured out,” she recalls. “I was comparing myself and wondering why I was struggling.”

Donor support helped change that trajectory. Aaliyah began moving forward on a path that combined academic growth with a deeper sense of belonging. Through the Beyond Tomorrow Scholars Award, Aaliyah gained access to counselling, reduced financial stress, and the ability to focus more fully on her studies. The impact extended far beyond finances.

“That scholarship gave me confidence,” she says. “It gave me the freedom to explore my degree—and my identity.”

It also gave her community. Through the program, she built friendships, found mentors and learned how to ask for help—something she hadn’t always known how to do.

“I wanted to explore who I was on my own terms,” she says. “To meet new people, take risks and figure out what mattered to me.”

Now in her fourth year of cognitive systems, specializing in psychology, Aaliyah studies how the brain works—and how technology, culture and equity intersect in shaping human experience. Her academic path, however, was not linear.

Growing up in a strict household, she felt familial pressure to pursue one of three options: engineering, law or medicine. Computer science came easily to her, and she entered UBC’s Faculty of Science expecting to follow that route. But early psychology courses sparked a shift.

“I started asking whose perspectives are missing,” she says. “And what happens when that knowledge gets built into systems like artificial intelligence?”

Those questions led her to cognitive systems—an interdisciplinary program combining psychology, computer science, philosophy and linguistics—and to a sense of purpose she hadn’t felt before.

“If these systems are going to shape everyday life,” she says, “then marginalized communities need to be represented in how they’re designed.”

As her mental health stabilized, her academic confidence grew. And with it came a desire to create change.

Drawing on her own experiences and those of her peers, Aaliyah founded the UBC Black Mental Wellness Collective, where she now serves as president. The student-led initiative provides a safe space for Black students to discuss mental health, identity and the academic impacts of underrepresentation.

“I wanted to create a straight path,” she says. “A place where students don’t have to explain or justify their experiences.”

The Collective also aims for long-term, systemic change—advancing cultural competence and more inclusive support systems that benefit all students.

“Our goal is that one day spaces like this won’t be necessary,” she says. “That everyone can find care wherever they go.”

Today, Aaliyah is exploring experiential learning opportunities such as Go Global, conducting equity-focused research, and preparing for a future where her work can help shape more ethical, inclusive technologies.

“Representation matters,” she says. “Not just in who builds systems—but in who feels safe using them.”

Looking back, she knows donor support made it possible.

“When I received the scholarship, my mom fell to the floor!” she laughs. “It took away the financial stress. It made me feel like I belonged here.”

By investing in students like Aaliyah, donors are helping advance healthier lives, strengthen mental wellbeing, and shape more equitable systems for the future.

“Thank you for believing in me,” she says. “And for believing that people like me belong in places like this.”