2010-2011 Award Winning Volunteers!

I can't believe it's the end of the school year already! Things have finally started to quiet down (except for the activities from summer schools and community groups!), which means that it's time to name this year's volunteer and activity of the year award recipients! On June 30th, we had a volunteer appreciation and awards night to honour the hard work of all of our fantastic volunteers.

The first award that was distributed was the Activity of the Year Award, which is given to the volunteer (or volunteers!) who develop and exceptionally creative, useful, and detailed activity.  The winners of this year's Activity of the Year Award were Nick S. and Angie R. for their activity about pulleys and levers!  Honourable mentions went to Amanda N. for her amazing Barcoding activity and to Adam T., whose anatomy field trip didn't quite see the light of day (but which was still pretty amazing!).

The second award that we distributed was the Christopher Zweerman Volunteer of the Year Award, which is given to a volunteer who has demonstrated a tremendous amount of passion, dedication, and creativity. This award is named in honour of the U of G's first Volunteer of the Year, Christopher Zweerman, who tragically passed away in 2010. We chose to name the award in his honour because he exemplified all of the qualities that make for a fantastic volunteer.
The winner of the 2010-2011 Christopher Zweerman Volunteer of the Year Award is Midori B., who not only performed an astounding 15 activities, but who also traveled to rural communities, developed new activities, and lent a hand with the All Science Challenge!  Honourable mentions went to Jan (Edward) L., who was also an amazingly dedicated volunteer who spent an enormous number of hours working both in Guelph and in rural communities; to Derek T., who single-handedly managed one of our busiest partnerships (and still found time to do other activities!); and to Kaity R., who not only had a hand in Adam's developing field trip activity, but who also performed several activities and who stepped up when other volunteers became unavailable on short notice.

We also had several volunteers who were nominated for national awards!!  Lisa W. was nominated for the National Volunteer of the Year Award due to her creativity, strong teaching skills, and dedication.  She is an outstanding volunteer! The CIHR Synapse award recognizes an outstanding activity in the field of health science. Amanda W. and Marina N. were nominated for this award based on their fantastic activity about microbes, and they were national finalists for this award!!

Thank you SO MUCH to all of the amazing volunteers this year! We really achieved some amazing things this year, and none of it would have been possible without you!