MONTREAL -- Two McGill students are honouring the memory of a friend and classmate who died of cancer.
“Every day I think about her a lot,” said friend Meaghan Moran. “Reflecting on all our good times and looking for pictures. It’s really emotional.”
“Jackie was beautiful inside and out. I love how confident she was and she would always speak her mind. It was very contagious. She was super outgoing, always wanted to go to events and go on trips. But she also had a super goofy side to her and a great sense of humour.”
Maria Power remembered meeting Aziz on their first day of school.
“We met when we were five-years-old in pre-kindergarten,” she said. “I was crying because I was so nervous to start school and she came up and made me feel better. We were instant friends.”
Jacqueline Aziz passed away at the age of 23 in January.
Moran and fellow friend Amanda Doonan decided to honour Aziz’s memory by creating a $20,000 bursary in her name. The bursary would help fund tuition costs for a McGill education student. So far, the pair side they’ve already raised half the amount.
“We found it fit Jackie’s personality,” said Doonan. “She was always very selfless and she always thought about other people before herself. This bursary would od something in our lifetime that would make her family proud.”
“She would have been the best teacher ever and Meaghan and I always switched our essays in class just to get peer feedback. When we sent it to Jackie and she said it was good, you knew you were getting an A.”
Moran said she hopes the bursary will inspire others in the way Aziz inspired her.
“We’re hoping it makes people reflect on their own lives and maybe gives them a bit of perspective and look at things they could do,” she said.
