We are proud to honor this year’s Africville Heritage Trust scholarship recipients for their exceptional dedication, academic excellence, and community involvement:
Micah Anderson
Theashia Fraser
Theashia Fraser is guided and influenced by her Africville roots as well as her exposure to the health care system. She recalls summers spent attending this Reunion and the legacy shared with her regarding her great-grandparents, Deacon Chester Johnson and Eleanor Dixon Johnson. She is currently enrolled at Humber College in Behavioural Science. Her goal is to become either a Speech-Language Pathologist or a Child Life Specialist within a culturally responsive environment.
Jayden Dixon
Jayden is currently working toward the Bachelor of Education degree at the University of New Brunswick, having previously graduated with Honours from the Nova Scotia Community College Africentric Early Childhood Education program. She is deeply connected to Africville through her father, Terry Dixon, well known for his poem “Africville My Home” and her Aunt, Deborah Dixon, one of the founders of the Africville Reunion. She worked at the Africville Museum, an experience she credits as strengthening her connection to community, storytelling and representation. She continues to stay involved in programs that support Black and Indigenous youth.
This year we were thrilled to partner with the Pinball Foundation to expand our support for deserving students. We are proud to present the recipients of this year’s Pinball Bursary:
Nykeva Brown
Nykeva is currently studying Early Childhood Education at Mount Saint Vincent, with the goal of becoming either a French elementary school teacher or a child social worker. Africville has always been an important part of her life. Her ancestor, William Brown was one of Africville’s early settlers. She has attended the Reunion every year without fail and her father Donald Buzzy Brown is strongly connected to the Africville community. She has been heavily involved with the community through volunteering at the YMCA, the Saint Andrews Centre, Saint Joseph Alexander MacKay Elementary School and the Beechville/Westwood community.
Xavier Hill
Xavier is in his third-year Bachelor of Kinesiology at Acadia University and a member of the Acadia Varsity Men’s Soccer team. He is working toward a career in healthcare that supports individual and community well-being. As a proud descendant of Africville, his identity is rooted in a legacy of resilience, strength, and community. His great-great-grandfather, Hudson Roy Gannon, lived in Africville and worked as a porter for the Canadian National Railway at a time when opportunities for Black men were severely
limited. His story, and the broader story of Africville, has been passed down through his family and continues to shape his understanding of self and purpose.
Ciara Burrell-Grant
Ciara is enrolled at the University of New Brunswick as a pre-med student working toward a first degree in Kinesiology. She brings a life-long association with the legacy Africville – one supported and underscored by her Grandfather, Lyle Grant. Ciara, as she grew up, not only attended the yearly Reunion, but also assisted in the holding of events. Ciara has also worked as an Interpreter at the AHT Museum for the past two summers. Her connection with Africville is deeply intertwined with her education and career ambitions. Ciara is actively working toward attending medical school – a career she knows will deliver on providing not only medical services but also cultural and emotional support.
Kayrae Carvery
Kyrae is pursuing a Bachelor of Honours in Health at Saint Francis Xavier University with a goal to gain admission to Dental School to pursue a career as a Dentist. She is well on her way. She points to her grandfather, Irving Carvery and her uncle Eddie Carvery as individuals who have shown her what it means to fight for what is right. Kyra writes of understanding that being connected to Africville means more than knowing its history, it means carrying forward the values of the community. She adds that as a Black woman from an African Nova Scotian community, she has witnessed and experienced disparities in healthcare access and representation. This is something she wants to change.
Abena Atwell-Rodney
Abena, a recent graduate of Auburn High School, will be pursuing a degree in Creative Arts at the University of Guelph. She is especially passionate about serving the Black community through art therapy, providing a service to help People of African descent heal from generational trauma. As a descendant of Africville, she intends to pay tribute to her lineage through creating a future where African Nova Scotians are further healing and thriving. Abena brings years of volunteer experience within the African Nova Scotian community and views this as providing learning in empathy and understanding and the importance of spreading kindness.