St. Thomas More student wins Junior Citizen Award
Montague a ‘phenomenal young woman’
A St. Thomas More student has been named one of the most civicminded students in the province.
Alexandria Montague, 17, is one of 12 young people who earned a 2015 Ontario Junior Citizen Award.
“I have an ability to do something, and I see there are things that need to be done, so I’m going to do it,” says Montague.
The Ontario Junior Citizen of the Year awards are a program organized by the Ontario Community Newspapers Association to recognize youth between the ages of six and 17 for their community service or heroic acts.
Though just 17, Montague has been involved in numerous activities at school and in the community, including Ebola relief efforts, the ThinkFast campaign for development and peace, St. Thomas More’s Halloween for Hunger, STM Prefect, Hamilton Baptist Church and Wentworth Baptist Church’s soup kitchen.
Montague was awarded with a Hamilton YMCA peace medal in the youth category last fall.
Montague was nominated for the Ontario Junior Citizen award by Chris Garwood, president of the Ja- maican Foundation Hamilton.
He cited Alexandria’s social justice work, including creating Sisters4Sisters along with her older sibling Ashleigh.
“Alexandria is a phenomenal young woman whose commitment to excellence is evident in all her endeavours — at school and in the community,” he wrote in his nomination.
The Montagues started Sisters4Sisters in the fall of 2014.
Since then they have organized a fundraiser brunch for the Native Women’s Centre, started a scholarship fund for New Horizons Education Centre in honour of a teacher who died from breast cancer, and held a toiletries drive for the Native Women’s Centre last fall.
A brunch fundraiser, this time for the Immigrants Working Centre, is coming up in March.
The 12 Ontario Junior Citizen finalists will attend a ceremony March 7, hosted by Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, at Queen’s Park.