Local high school student receives $70K TD Leadership Scholarship

A Windsor student is being recognized nationwide for his leadership and advocacy work in the community.

Tianyu Lin, a Grade 12 student at Vincent Massey Secondary School, has been named one of just 20 recipients across Canada of the 2026 TD Scholarships for Community Leadership program.

The scholarship is valued at up to $70,000 and also includes access to summer internships and a national scholars network.

Lin has focused much of his volunteer work on youth mental health and helping students access leadership opportunities.

He also founded a student mental health committee, which has connected representatives from 13 schools in the Greater Essex County District School Board to share ideas and strategies to support students during monthly meetings.

As president of his DECA Team for Business, Lin focused on cultivating leadership in his peer group and mentoring students to help them find their voice and build confidence in public speaking.

Lin says receiving the scholarship was a surreal moment.

“When I got the news, at first I couldn’t even process it, it was very ironic because I was at my DECA club when I received the news, which was where I did a lot of my community work. So it was really a full circle moment. Of course I couldn’t tell anyone at the club then, but I called my parents and they were really excited for me,” he said.

Lin says as a student, he knows how difficult it can be to start student societies.

“I wanted to create a mental health committee connecting all the student leaders across the board, so we had a representative from each of the 13 schools in the Greater Essex County District School Board and we assisted them with various strategies to continue to promote mental health advocacy within their various schools,” he said.

He says he still can’t believe he’s one of the recipients.

“I’m extremely excited, I just came back from Ottawa attending the national awards ceremony and it’s genuinely awesome to see so many great, like-minded individuals who really care about the future,” he said.

Lin will attend the University of Waterloo this fall in the computer science co-op program.

He hopes to create softwares and assistance that can continue to support students.