For the third time in Scarborough Walk of Fame history, the Rising Star Award was given to young leaders who are empowering people in their community and beyond.
2024 Rising Star Inductees
Swabir Shariff, a Scarborough native, founded The Good Guides in 2020 to mentor at-risk youth and support Scarborough communities with resources and capacity to create change from within. Recognized nationally, he now leads full-time youth engagement and violence prevention efforts, providing co-op placements for hundreds of Scarborough youth to develop skills and create positive change for themselves and their communities
Fariha Atqiva is a clinical research assistant at the department of orthopedic science at Sunnybrook Research Institute. A Bachelor of Science (HON.) recipient with a specialty in neuroscience, she has been active in numerous community activities. Atqiya is the co-founder of FeminSTEM, introducing girls Gr. 1-12 to organizational and planning skills through summer camps and other activities. Other contributions include being a board member of Advocates for Tomorrow, a student-led law conference and a deep involvement with Rotaract, where she is a representative for Rotary District 7070,
Rising Star 2022 inductees
Aisha Farman Khan graduated from Western University’s Class of 2022 with an Honours Specialization Bachelor degree in Health Science with Distinction as a Western Scholar. She has spent most of her life in Scarborough. She is a part-time poet and has had poems published in anthologies, magazines and online publications. Her debut collection of poems is titled Zamana: the time and the world, which she wrote under her pseudonym, Anaa Gulzar. She has spent much time volunteering at her local mosque, the Islamic Foundation of Toronto. For over 10 years, she has helped distribute meals during Ramadan. The founder of “my heART”, a volunteer, not-for-profit organization dedicated to spreading creativity and using the arts to help others, Aisha has worked in hospitals and homeless shelters to engage more people in the creative process.
Harshi is currently attending McMaster University, studying Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences & Co-op (iBioMed). She has demonstrated significant mentorship and leadership skills in her community. At the age of 14, she began volunteering at the Scarborough Historical Museum. In recognition of her hard work and dedication to the museum, she was promoted to a mentorship role. She also helped organize special events at the museum. She was the recipient of the Ontario Volunteer Service Award in November 2019 to applaud her dedication, leadership, creativity, and positive impact at the museum. Harshi has involved herself in various global initiatives, such as World Vision, the Waterloo Initiative, Free the Children, and Oxfam to help tackle many environmental, societal, and humanitarian issues in the community.
Kataem Enoth-Luwunzu O’Connor was born May 16th, 2000 and grew up in Scarborough. He is of Ugandan and Trinidadian descent. He started acting and modeling at the age of 10 with the support of his family. He has been featured in TV shows including Degrassi, L.A Complex, Stephen King’s 11/22/63, Raising Expectations, The Expanse and a reoccurring role as Adam Parker on Canada’s longest running series Heartland. Kataem attended high school at Wexford Collegiate where he was allowed to perform and build his craft in front of large audiences while juggling his TV career. After years of hard work, Kataem now has over 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.
Dedicated to making a difference in her community, Maya Morose is an avid activist and volunteer. She studies Gender and Social Justice as well as Teaching at Trent University. Maya is the Co-founder of Pinball for Change; a series of charity pinball tournaments to raise funds for local and global initiatives. Since 2016, Maya has helped raise over $26,000 to build two classrooms in Kanambu, Ecuador in the Amazon region. In the summer of 2019 Maya went on a volunteer service trip to Ecuador to work on building water wells and visited the classrooms funded by Pinball for Change. Since then, further fundraising has focused on local initiatives including the Downie Wenjack Fund and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
2018 Rising Star Inductees
Ashley Rose Murphy
Delicia Raveenthrarajan
Ravicha Ravinthiran
Yasmin Rajabi