Student Spotlight: Timur Oran ’26 and Arda Unsal ’25
For Timur Oran ’26 and Arda Unsal ’25, the recent earthquake in Turkey and Syria struck a personal chord. While they live and attend school here in Toronto, both have family in Turkey and have visited regularly for their entire lives. “It was a really damaging earthquake,” says Oran. “They were hit with two earthquakes and immediately after that they had a blizzard and it was -18 C.” While their loved ones were not harmed by the earthquake, its impacts have been far-reaching and the boys felt the need to act.
During two assemblies, Oran and Unsal educated their peers and encouraged them to donate to charities supporting the relief efforts. They prepared a presentation that demonstrated the destruction of the earthquake, with a before-and-after video of a popular shopping district, a summary of the regions affected, and a visual comparison of these regions to other well-known countries to show the scale. “There have been a lot of difficulties accessing areas that are impacted because roads and buildings have completely collapsed,” says Unsal. “A lot of historically significant landmarks were impacted.”
In addition to the education and fundraising that Oran and Unsal led, funds collected for Casual Dress Day on Friday, February 24 were donated to the Canadian Red Cross and GlobalMedic Canada. Families may contribute to either of these organizations by clicking the links provided.
