The Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation has become the very first sponsor of an innovative program where law students help high school students succeed.

The Foundation’s $20,000 gift will support McGill’s High School Outreach Program (HSOP), which brings Faculty of Law students into high school classrooms with the aim of giving teens a human connection to post-secondary and legal education.

HSOP Founder Charmaine Lyn, the Assistant Dean of Law (External Affairs), says this generous gift is enough to cover the program’s operating costs for the coming year – and will allow HSOP to deepen existing relationships with Montreal-area high schools by providing after-school tutoring. The gift will also allow HSOP to develop a year-long mock-trial program in one of the Program’s partner schools.

“We are thrilled to have the support of the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation – it is a huge vote of confidence for our fledgling program,” said Lyn. “This gift will allow us some much-needed breathing room, and the ability to focus our energies entirely on delivering the best possible program to the high school students.”

One of the goals of The Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation is to provide grants to support young Canadians who, given the opportunity, have the potential to be future leaders in Canada. The Foundation also wants to use its funds to augment the impact of efforts by young Canadians to help other young Canadians less privileged than themselves.

“McGill’s High School Outreach Program, in which law students reach out to high school and college students who might not otherwise consider studying law, is precisely such a program,” said Timothy Aitken, President of the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. “The Foundation is proud to become a partner in supporting this exciting initiative and looks forward to seeing it flourish.”

Community initiatives such as the High School Outreach Program are a priority for McGill University, which is in the midst of its largest fundraising drive ever. Campaign McGill: History in the Making was publicly launched in October 2007 to raise the funds needed to attract and retain the world’s best students and faculty, increase access to quality education, and enhance McGill’s ability to address critical global challenges. To date, the Campaign has surpassed the $475-million mark.

For more information on the Faculty of Law’s High School Outreach Program, please visit mcgill.ca/law-studies/get-involved/outreach

For more information on Campaign McGill, please visit www.mcgill.ca/campaign