Patrick Morris introduced two of the 2018 Scholarship recipients, Carmen Ho and Zhen Bo Bien.
Patrick thanked his committee, Karla Dolinsky, Lauren Moline and Steve Holland. He also gave credit to George Prince and Dennis Truss who served on the committee for many years.
The awards are tied to four main areas:
- academic achievement
- citizenship
- community involvement
- non-academic achievement (sports, the arts, work experience).
This year we had 30 applicants from 3 school divisions. The successful applicants were from Esquimalt (2), Mount Doug, Spectrum and S.I.D.E.S (South Island Distance Education School.
Carmen Ho was a leader in Spectrum School's community events such as the Victoria Day Parade, Santa Lights Parade, Wicked Victoria Hallowe'en and Cops for Cancer. She also led the Christmas hamper collection, the toast program and fundraising for the Malala Fund. She was captain of the volleyball team and basketball team. She was the representative to SD 61 and obtained a grant for the Robotics team. Now she is working as a pharmacy assistant and is headed to U Vic to pursue medicine or a related career.
Zhen Bo Bian began peer tutoring in 2015 in Sciences and Math and is part of the Challenge Program Council. In the community he participates in Cadets where he is a warrant officer and instructor and placed 1st in cadet Olympic style competitions. He provides leadership in environmental projects such as beach cleanups, invasive species removal and ecological restoration. He plays trumpet in the Mount Doug band and the cadet marching band as well as bagpipes in cadet events. He is headed to the University of Waterloo for mechanical engineering.
Scholarships were also awarded to Lia Holla, Saskia van Beers and Sarah Kedves.