Sport Aurora honours 36 school Athletes of the Year at 10th annual ceremony in Town Park

July 23, 2026 · 0 Comments

School’s out for summer– and Sport Aurora added to the spirit of that celebration by honoring dozens of high-performing Athletes of the Year from area schools at Town Park on July 14.

Sport Aurora’s Executive Director Laurie Mueller praised the student-athletes assembled for the 10th annual recognition event.

“They are role models who inspire others to participate in, and benefit from, healthy sport. Thirty-six student athletes from seventeen Aurora schools [will be] presented with Certificates of Excellence.”

Sport Aurora President and Ward 1 Councillor Ron Weese presided over the 10th annual ceremony, along with Alan Dean, Chair of Sport Aurora’s Sport Celebration and Recognition Committee.

As is his custom, Dean, an Aurora Sports Hall of Fame inductee in 2015, called the student-athletes to the band shell stage individually where they were presented with their congratulatory certificates by MPPs Michael Parsa (Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill) and Dawn Gallagher Murphy (Newmarket-Aurora).

MPP Parsa and MPP Gallagher Murphy demonstrated their advocacy of school sports by donating the certificates and diploma covers presented on stage.

Sport Aurora and the Town’s two MPPs recognized the following 2025-26 Athletes of the Year:

St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School – Tessa Scott and Matteo Casto;
St. Jerome Catholic Elementary School – Blake Nerona and Lauren Forrest;
Our Lady of Grace Catholic Elementary School- Nikolas Pampoukis and Roisin Gamble;
Holy Spirit Elementary School- Kaylee Chan and Gianluca Luberto;
Light of Christ Catholic Elementary School- Tarun Dennis Justin, Riley Charbonneau, Sophia Palmieri and Simona Marcoccia;
Aurora Heights Public School- Bessie Guo and Liam Panet;
Northern Lights Public School- Elvin Liu;
Wellington Public School- Paisley Tan and Ryan Elliott;
Lester B Pearson Public School- Jazmine Simon-Gurat and David Terec;
Rick Hansen Public School- Jett Grozdanic and Ava Lawrence;
Regency Acres Public School- Sophia Fotopoulos;
Highview Public School- Reaksa Ky-Phoeun;
Cardinal Carter Catholic High School- Adam Sistito, Olivia Iannuzzi, Julian Morra, Paulo Morra, and Julia Gadyatskaya;
Aurora High School- Ava Jurchison-Okubo, Graham Hughes, and Paul Terec;
St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School- Jake Blakley and Shyla Gamble;
Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School- Sydney White, Logan Geer, and Ryan Collie.

In our post-event chat at a Town Park picnic table, Councillor Weese noted the importance of recognizing the dozens of student-athletes and dozens of parents who attended the ceremony.

“Celebrations of sport is one of our missions at Sport Aurora,” he said. “We think it’s important to spread the good news about what sports do for our community. This is a special one for me every year. It brings me back to my high school teaching and coaching days. We never had this kind of event in our little town of Dresden. In Aurora, we want young people to be thanked for the good things they do as student-athletes. We really want to thank our MPPs—Michael and Dawn—for being here. They’re here every year and donate the certificates that we distribute on stage. They know how important our young people are and they’ve both been involved in sports at so many levels.”

Weese expressed his satisfaction about the event becoming a source of pride for the parents of the Student-Athletes of the Year.

“The parents are so grateful and it was great to put a smile on their faces—that’s what makes these recognition awards all worth it,” he said. “Parents are driving all over the place to get kids to practices and games—just as they’re doing tonight after our ceremony.”

By Jim Stewart
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter