Co-op awards recognize outstanding efforts
Jennifer Pinsky, who hosted Concordia’s 2012 Co-op Awards of Recognition Event (CARE) and Student Showcase, is a superb example of the perfect co-op partner. A Concordia co-op alumna and human resources manager at Medisca Pharmaceuticals, she has helped arrange more than 30 co-op work terms there over the past eight years.
“I’m very happy and honoured to be here tonight,” she said at the start of the June 12th event. “I’m a former co-op student, so I’ve seen both sides of the co-op experience.”
Pinsky is among the hundreds of Concordia alumni and current students who enrolled as undergraduates in the Institute for Co-operative Education to alternate their academic terms with three to four paid internships related to their field of study.
Approximately 200 co-op students, employers, faculty members and university staff gathered to celebrate another successful year of the program. More than $7,000 in scholarships and grants – along with certificates and trophies – were awarded to 13 co-op students in the fields of accountancy and management information systems, actuarial mathematics, biochemistry, economics, mechanical, civil and software engineering, and translation.
Biochemistry student Vincent Grenier received the Alexandre Quintal Co-op Student of the Year Award. Away in Munich to complete his final work term at the Ludwig-Maximillian University, he nonetheless sent a note to express his appreciation.
“Being a co-op student has been an integral part of my Concordia experience, and winning the Student of the Year Award is a huge honour for me,” he stated. “After graduation, I hope to begin my doctoral studies in chemistry, and thanks to my co-op experience, I have clear goals for the future and know I have the skills to hit the ground running.”
Co-op employers nominated 39 students this year for the five Employer’s Choice Awards. The employers’ detailed nominations – sometimes running two or three pages in length – highlighted the outstanding effort and contributions that co-op students make to a company during their work terms.
“They all greatly exceeded my expectations,” said Jocelyne Bédard who, as a human resources manager at Pratt & Whitney Canada, nominated three co-op students that were under her supervision. All three “demonstrated remarkable capacities to adapt to any situation and difficult projects,” she said.
A total of 23 employers were nominated for the Student’s Choice Awards. In their nomination letters, the co-op students related the significant impact each of these mentors had made on their professional and personal development.
Vanessa Schamer, a co-op marketing student, commended Yohan Sauves, a manager at BDO Canada. “He helped me to achieve far more than I thought was possible for myself,” she said.
Gerry Hughes, the co-op program’s director, thanked the employers for the diversity of experiential learning opportunities that they provide for co-op students.
“We seek organizations who partner with us in offering varied student growth and learning work experiences,” he said, adding that the program is always looking for ways to most effectively connect and communicate with employers and to create new and innovative work-term possibilities for co-op students.
Judging from the enthusiastic turnout, the students’ and employers’ needs were definitely being handled with CARE.
Related links:
• Institute for Co-operative Education
• Co-op Awards of Recognition Event 2012 program
• Co-op Student Showcase