Two new McGill University graduates have won Pathy Fellowships. The $50,000 award recognizes young leaders who have innovative approaches to creating change, enabling them to dedicate a year of their early career to a cause and community they are passionate about while engaging in hands-on and practical learning.
Mai Ababneh (B.Sc., Cognitive Science) and Sam Liptay (B.Sc., Food Production and Environment Concentration) will become members of the program’s first-ever national cohort. Previously, the award was open only to graduates of selected universities, including McGill. New graduates of all Canadian universities are now eligible.
The Pathy Fellowship allows young leaders to test and develop their skills in their respective fields while benefiting from a rich support network of driven peers, skilled facilitators and experienced practitioners. Fellows can propose a self-directed initiative in any field, sector and community they have a meaningful connection with.
Mai Ababneh
Mai Ababneh will work to develop sex education resources that empower young Arabs and Muslims in Montreal. These will be rooted in cultural sensitivity and Islamic teachings that affirm mutual care within relationships and will aim to challenge shame, foster dialogue and build a space for reflection, acceptance and deeper connection to one’s body, identity and values.
Ababneh said the initiative emerged from conversations with peers about navigating the complexities of sex education within the context of Arab and Muslim communities. Through these conversations and personal experience, she realized there was a significant gap in understanding and open dialogue related to body literacy, sex and relationships and identified a need to address these topics in a culturally sensitive and faith-aligned manner.
“I was deeply inspired by the stories of previous Fellows,” she said. “Each of them found a way to translate a vision into something real, something that made a tangible difference in a community they care about. That possibility – to start something, even if it’s just the first stone in a ripple effect of change – felt incredibly meaningful to me.”
Sam Liptay
Sam Liptay will work to strengthen Élèves des champs (formerly the Macdonald Student-run Ecological Gardens) by developing a sustainable farm model that balances food production, youth employment and community service. He said he plans to engage local interest holders to improve infrastructure and operational efficiency, while expanding educational programming, increasing food donations and creating meaningful youth employment in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue.
Liptay has been working on Élèves des champs since 2021. In this work, he “discovered a radical passion and potential, both within [myself] and dozens of other young folks for more just, accessible, and joyful agricultural spaces that serve the needs of communities, farm workers and the land, alike.”
“I applied to the Pathy Fellowship as I knew it would allow me to keep doing meaningful work in my community while having the resources to learn more about myself and my community in a guided and supportive environment,” Liptay said.
Busy year ahead
Ababneh and Liptay will begin their Fellowship year in July with four weeks of training covering such topics as participatory community engagement and leadership principles, project planning and management, strengths-based approaches and funding development.
Next, Fellows will develop and implement their initiatives over the course of a 10-month Community Phase while benefiting from dedicated program support.
Learn more about the 2025-2026 Pathy Fellows.
Caption: Mai Ababneh and Sam Liptay are part of the seven-person cohort of 2025-2026 Pathy Fellows