Left to right: Rotary Club President Bruce Henning, Hannah McLeod, Gabby Pangan, Connor Bitter, Andrew McBurney, Andrew McBride Chris Godin, Jan Jaluvka. Bullet News photo by Annie Silvester.
ANNIE SILVESTER/Bullet News
NIAGARA FALLS – It’s one thing to be a high achiever when it comes to academics in school, but the Niagara Falls Rotary Student Spirit Awards take things to the next level and honour high school pupils that go that extra mile serving the community.
The Rotary motto “service above self” summarizes their dedication to honoring those that give to others and was the focal point of the awards ceremony at the Oakes Hotel on Tuesday afternoon that was attended by students, parents, teachers and Rotarians.
Being recognized were six students in Grades 10 and 11 from Stamford, Westlane and St. Paul high schools in Niagara Falls.
The selection process involved a contact teacher from the various institutions choosing a student that had made an extra contribution that semester .
Jan Jaluvka, vocational services director for the club, called the event one of the highlights of the Rotary year and said that it was so important, because, as the old saying goes, “our youth are our future and this phrase has never been filled with more meaning or more significance than at this time.”
He went on to recount the great amount of troubles in the world and the significance of the Spirit Award.
“Now more than ever there is a crying need for people that can provide leadership and are willing to serve and do what it takes to improve things in our community, in our city, in our province, in our country and indeed in our world.”
First up in the awards program, the principal of Saint Paul Catholic high school, Jeffery Smith, spoke of his two student recipients – Hannah McLeod, who he called an exemplary student and “pillar of service beyond self in the Niagara Falls Community,” and Gabby Pangan, who he said “wore a coat of many colours and was as talented as she was caring.”
Acting principal Matt Wilson from Westlane took the podium next commending his award winners Andrew McBride and Chris Godin. Of McBride he joked about his taking over the school morning announcements among other things saying “it’s not just his passion and enthusiasm for starting out the day but his sense of humour that really gets the school going.” Of Godin he said in Grade 9 he started his so far successful journey into becoming “Mr. Westlane,” citing his numerous involvement in all aspects of student life.
Lastly, Ann Harrison, Principal of Stamford Collegiate presented the Spirit Award to Connor Bitter, who she said has been involved in all aspects of the Stamford community for the past three years, and Andrew McBurney, who she called “the living Stamford spirit.”
At the end of the presentation, IKFADTV caught up with the winners and they all reiterated what an honour it was to win the award because there was a lot of amazing competition.
Hannah McLeod summarized the “spirit” of the afternoon with her comments about the presentation saying “even if I wasn’t recognized, it’s still always nice to do something for the community.”
For full video coverage of the event please watch www.IKFADTV.com and the newscast on www.bulletnewsniagara.ca on Wednesday.
