David Kerr (BSc'19, MBA'23) remembers the many evenings his mother spent volunteering with school board advisory committees in Toronto, advocating for better education for all and taking extra time to help any parents and students who needed advice. He also recalls how often she took him out of the country to get better when he was sick with asthma and allergies.
“She’s always told me to do the right thing,” Kerr says. “But more importantly, she’s always embodied that.”
Kerr is embodying that spirit in his own way. As soon as he completed the Corporate Residency MBA Program at Dalhousie, he established the Sealy Thrive Bursary. He says he was motivated by his Dal experience, but even more by his mother.
“Sealy is my mother’s maiden name,” Kerr says. “It’s a thank you to her for all the years she spent raising me and my sister, and the ways she has helped anyone who needed it.”
Much like its namesake, the Sealy Thrive Bursary makes education more equitable, in this case by providing financial support to BIPOC students pursuing an MBA. Kerr, who served as MBA Society VP of equity, diversity, and inclusion, knows firsthand the difference that bursaries can make for students. By starting his own, he wants to help clear a path for other students to succeed.
“One of the most valuable things I’ve received in my life is someone validating my potential and helping me get where I am going,” he says. “I want students to feel that they’re seen and to know that someone is helping them.”
“One of the most valuable things I’ve received in my life is someone validating my potential and helping me get where I am going,” he says. “I want students to feel that they’re seen and to know that someone is helping them.”
For Kerr, time was of the essence. He understood from his financial management professor, Rick Nason, that the dollar today is stronger than the dollar tomorrow.
That inspired the 30-year-old to launch the bursary now instead of waiting until he was more established in his career. “I knew that I could make donations and let it build over time,” he says. “That would give it a strong foundation for growth.”
Now a business development coordinator with the Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub, Kerr continues to make contributions to the bursary. He wanted to surprise his mother with the bursary once it was fully self- sustaining, but she found out about it before he could share the news.
“She’s really grateful and immediately started brainstorming ways to help fund it,” he says. “I’d be happy to know that, 20 years from now, the bursary is still there and helping students, just as she has. I think supporting the next generation is the most important thing we can do as alumni.”
“I’d be happy to know that, 20 years from now, the bursary is still there and helping students, just as she has. I think supporting the next generation is the most important thing we can do as alumni.”
This story appeared in the DAL Magazine Fall 2024 issue. Flip through the rest of the issue using the links below.