Building on our first Telling Your Story: Writing Effective Applications workshop, Part 2 takes a deeper dive into scholarship applications and how to make your story stand out.
Living with a rheumatic disease can shape your experiences in unique ways. But knowing how to talk about those experiences in a scholarship application—and recognizing the strengths you’ve developed along the way—can sometimes feel challenging.
Join Cassie + Friends for Telling Your Story: Writing Effective Scholarship Applications to learn practical strategies for finding scholarship opportunities and creating strong, authentic applications that showcase who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and what matters to you.
What You’ll Cover
- How to find scholarship opportunities that may be a good fit for you
- How to identify and communicate the experiences and strengths that make your story unique
- Strategies for writing authentic and compelling scholarship applications (also with specific tips for disability, leadership, and rheumatic disease-related scholarships)
- Tips for making your application stand out while staying true to your own voice
Meet Our Speaker
Ciara Mahaffy
Cassie + Friends Youth Mentor + Application Expert
Ciara Mahaffy has been a long-standing supporter of Cassie + Friends. Ciara got involved in Cassie + Friends Youth Programming in 2020, shortly after her JIA diagnosis. Since then, she has fundraised through Team Cassie + Friends, served as a Youth Mentor and Ambassador, and even worked at Cassie + Friends for three summers during her undergrad.
Ciara completed her undergrad at the University of Toronto, where she specialized in English Literature, and recently graduated from the University of Cambridge, where she completed a Master’s degree in English Literature. Ciara has extensive experience writing effective applications for both academia and scholarship programs, winning over $85,000 in scholarships in her undergrad alone.
Ciara has also sat on the other side of the table and assessed such applications, which has given her a strong understanding of how these applications are assessed and how an application can be constructed to have the best chance at success.
She is passionate about sharing what she has learned and helping young people recognize the value of their own experiences and confidently tell their stories through applications.
Hosting Our Session
Danica Moschenross
Youth Engagement Coordinator, Cassie + Friends
As the Youth Engagement Coordinator at Cassie + Friends and a current Master of Management student at the University of British Columbia, Danica brings together her experience navigating university, graduate school, and the many, many applications that come along the way, with her work at Cassie + Friends and her own lived experience with juvenile arthritis. Now in her second year hosting this workshop, she brings both her personal and professional experiences to Telling Your Story. Through her work at Cassie + Friends, Danica works to ensure youth voices are heard, empowered, and engaged through connection and education.
Danielle Harrison
Manager, Programs + Partnerships, Cassie + Friends
As the Manager of Programs + Partnerships at Cassie + Friends, Danielle leverages a decade of experience delivering and leading programs for those managing chronic pain and health conditions. Having navigated her own chronic illness in her youth, she is deeply committed to delivering impactful programs that empower others. When she isn’t working to drive meaningful change, Danielle enjoys spending time with her two children and relaxing with a good book.
