Holy Redeemer Awards Ceremony
On Sunday, January 27, Holy Redeemer rolled out the red carpet for their annual Awards Ceremony.
The Awards Ceremony celebrates excellence in academics, athletics, citizenship and fine arts during the 2017-2018 school year.
“It’s always one of my favourite days of the school year,” says Assistant Principal Diane Williams. “We get to reward all of the hard work our students have done last year and at the same time we get to see many of our students who have graduated who love to tell us what they are doing now.”
The first section of the night celebrated the students in the Athletics Program. The top award in this category is Athlete of the Year. Here, Brooke Grycak and Levi Beckmann took the Junior High Awards, and Alex Melnyk and Jacob Chase won the Senior High Awards.
One additional presentation in this category saw Justin Breault receive two miniature banners celebrating his gold medal wins in Track & Field (Javelin) during the last two years. Breault not only broke the provincial records in grade 10 and 11, he smashed them.
In the Fine Arts Category, the prestigious Drama Program celebrated the work of the student artists in the school. The Drama Awards were presented to Jayna Fedorak and Tyler Ferguson (Junior High), and Rena Fakhreddine and Thomas Pennings (Senior High). The Art Program presented the Visual Arts Award to Alex Fedyk and Samantha Olivier.
In the next category of Citizenship, the school awards the Faculty Award, which is given to the student who achieves consistently near the top of the class and displays a positive attitude in keeping with the school philosophy.
“This category is always a tough decision,” says Williams. “We have so many students who meet this criteria.”
In the end, Morgan Steffler (Junior High) and Brian Birkenhagen and Ashlynn Martin (Senior High) were awarded this prestigious award.
The final category is academics where students in grades 7 to 11 are given monetary awards for receiving the top two academics averages in their respective grades. The awards winners were: grade 7 Ethan Breault and Shawn Williams; grade 8 Diana Pedrajas and Alyssa Vankosky; grade 9 Mekha George and Jaci Knight; grade 10 Evan Chung and Austin Williams; and grade 11 Julia Kerr and Noemi Napoles.
From there, various scholarships are passed out in varying categories to assist graduated students who are attending post-secondary schools.
“We love rewarding all the hard work of our students,” says Principal Bill McGowan. “And what better way to do this than helping these young adults pay for post-secondary school.”
The most awarded recipient of the night was Class Valedictorian Spencer Smith who collected over $5000 in scholarship money. Smith would receive the following scholarships: Shell Canada Award, Daniel H. Mitchell, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, Social Studies 30-1, and the Grade 12 Highest Academic Scholarship.
“This young man truly demonstrated perseverance, effort and an amazing work ethic,” says McGowan. “We are extremely proud of him for all that he has accomplished.”
In addition, Smith would also be the recipient of coveted Governor General’s Award.
At the end of the hour long ceremony, many students took home trophies and cheques that showcased their amazing achievements. “This Awards Ceremony is made possible by all of the outstanding donations from our local business community,” says Williams. “We thank for their donation and for wanting to invest in our students and their future.”
If you would like more information on this article please feel free to contact the school at 780723-7437, visit our website at holyredeemerhigh.ca or join our Facebook page: “Holy Redeemer High School” or our Twitter account: @holyredeemerhig.