Recognition awards celebrate students and staff
On April 19, several dedicated students, staff and faculty were presented with Concordia Council on Student Life (CCSL) and volunteer recognition awards.
Each year, the CCSL and the LIVE Centre recognize individuals who have enriched the student experience on campus, or demonstrated outstanding dedication through volunteer work to benefit Montreal and society at large.
With the Montreal skyline as the backdrop on the 11th floor of the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex, a live music trio playing and spring blossoms decorating the tables, the ceremony honoured 22 Concordians.
Fifteen people received CCSL Outstanding Contribution Awards while seven people received Concordia Volunteer Recognition Awards for their exceptional commitment to volunteer activities and student life. In addition to the award, recipients received pots of spring tulips and fragrant hyacinths.
Dean of Students Andrew Woodall warmly welcomed the award winners and their families, describing the ceremony as a high point in his first year with the university.
He described the recipients as people who are special for their unsolicited benevolence.
“No one has tasked them with going the extra mile or making a difference to their fellow Concordians. They have decided to model exemplary citizenship and, in so doing, they provide us with inspiration and remind us that even in the quotidian there is a place for the extraordinary,” said Woodall.
Recipients ranged from undergraduate student Jennifer Selinger whose goal is nothing short of, “chang[ing] the world,” to staff member Dimitrios Koulis whose contribution is closer to home: Selinger is founder of the Concordia chapter of Students Offering Support (SOS), a group that raises money through tutoring to fund outreach trips to developing countries. Koulis was recognized for his helpful and friendly approach to stressed-out students as a lab attendant in the computer lab of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.
Susie Breier, a librarian at Concordia for 17 years, was one of the staff members recognized for her exceptional contribution to student experience. She says she gets a lot of satisfaction from her work. “There are times when spending 20 or 30 minutes with a student at the Reference Desk can change verging tears into an elated high-five — that kind of thing gives me a charge that easily lasts for the rest of the day.”
Award recipient Nathanael Occenad, outgoing president of the Engineering and Computer Science Association (ECA), was also active in the Concordia chapter of Engineers Without Borders and helped make Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve the first Fair Trade Town in Montreal.
“Engineering can be very technical. Given my involvement in student life and with people, I have been able to enhance my interpersonal and social skills and apply them to my profession,” he said “With these tools, I am eager to look for ways to pass on what I've learned to young professionals as they enter the industry; making available the information and opportunities that I was given.”
Read the full list of recipients:
Outstanding Contributions to Student Life Awards
• Keawe Aquarian
• Susie Breier
• jenn davis
• Tim Field
• Christina Gerwing
• Khalil Haddad
• Orzugul Kamalova
• Lynn Kirk
• Dimitrios Koulis
• Thomas McGurk
• Nathaneal Occenad
• Laurence B. Violette
• Yuri Wilkie
• Nadine Wright
• Yu Hui Yu
Volunteer Award Winners 2012
• Francesco Campisi
• Arpi Hamalian
• Michal Harewood
• Howard Magonet
• Safaa Sebak
• Jennifer Selinger
• Ghada Sfeir
Related links:
• LIVE Centre
• Dean of Students website