{"id":26456,"date":"2020-04-30T14:28:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T18:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26456"},"modified":"2020-04-30T14:28:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T18:28:59","slug":"young-leaders-recognized-with-2020-give-back-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/young-leaders-recognized-with-2020-give-back-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Young leaders recognized with 2020 Give Back Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It remains to be seen whether students will be able to get back\ninto their classrooms before the end of the 2019-2020 school year, but 20 Grade\n12 students preparing for post-secondary education this fall have been\nrecognized for the enduring legacies they have left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Neighbourhood Network announced the 2020 recipients of\nthe Give Back Awards, an annual cash prize donated by Magna International to\nrecognize students, regardless of their specific post-secondary plans, who have\ndedicated themselves to making their schools and wider communities better\nplaces to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program, which was founded by then-MP Belinda Stronach, has\ngrown since its founding to include students from all five York Region\nmunicipalities in which Neighbourhood Network operates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s recipients were announced to mark National Volunteer\nWeek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Give Back Awards are traditionally handed out in a special\nceremony held at Magna\u2019s Aurora headquarters, but present circumstances have\nmade this year a digital celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the 2020 Give Back Award recipients attending Aurora schools\nare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMANDA BISHOP (Aurora High School)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVolunteering\nhas always been an important part of Amanda\u2019s life. Amanda belonged to Peer\nMentors, Empowering Student Partnerships, Music Council, volunteers at York\nMusic Camp and Student Voice Representative. She is president and founder or\nAurobots, Aurora High School\u2019s first robotics team which also does outreach\nwithin the community. She has led toiletry drives for students in need at her\nschool, she has created the \u2018Tulips for Autism\u2019 initiative where all proceeds\nwere donated to Kerry\u2019s Place Autism Services and she has run free weeklong\nsummer camps for girls, teaching them how to design their own website. Amanda\nputs in a lot of time and effort to make things happen because she cares about\nstudents, her high school and her community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RALPH DAGHER (ESC Renaissance)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRalph not only displays leadership\nqualities in his responsibilities at school, but he also serves as a mentor for\nthe younger members of his school and community. Ralph is the student body\npresident and spends a lot of his time organizing and executing events such as\ntheir school\u2019s first ever homecoming. He has also spent countless hours helping\nat his church summer camps, was a participant at the Central Ontario Leadership\nSeminar and has volunteered at his former elementary school. After graduation\nRalph plans on attending university to study architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MATTHEW DEO (St. Andrew\u2019s College)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt a young\nage Matthew\u2019s parents taught him the importance of giving back. Matthew is very\ninvolved in his school and community. He has been on his school Community\nCouncil for three years and is now an executive member. He has organized Terry\nFox Runs, built houses with Habitat for Humanity, has organized fundraisers to\npurchase instruments for students that couldn\u2019t afford them, and he has supported\nthe Walk a Mile in Her Shoes which raises awareness of violence against women.\nMatthew\u2019s grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer\u2019s, inspired him to form a\nband with some of his musician friends who would then play at senior\u2019s\nresidences simply because he wanted to do something to bring them joy. A fun\nfact about Matthew is that he has a black belt in karate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LILY EDMUNDS (St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLily has made multiple contributions to fellow students and\ncitizens and has demonstrated a commitment to her community above and beyond\nexpectations. Within school, Lily is part of the Best Buddies Program,\nconnecting mainstream students with students who experience learning challenges\nand developmental disabilities. In her community, Lily has supported The\nAlzheimer\u2019s Society, Southlake Hospital, Markham Stouffville Hospital, Youth at\nRisk, Operation Hero, Because I am a Girl, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and\nthe list goes on. Lily is an accomplished cross-country runner who gave up training\nto continue volunteer work because it is truly where her heart is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SOPHIA FIORINI (St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic High School)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophia is very involved in both her\nschool and community. Sophia has conducted research in microbiology, taught swimming\nlessons and performed lifeguard duties. In addition, she has served for her\nchurch community, has taken part in school clubs and teams, and has organized\nand led key fundraising initiatives. Giving Back to Sophia means good people\nworking with other good people in order to accomplish and do extraordinary\nthings. It is incredibly rewarding for Sophia to know that she can make a\nlasting impression.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Week: The Auroran will spotlight five more local recipients: Kiana Mirshahi, Christina Paraskevopoulos, Elise Quail, Abigail Reist and Amanda Round.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It remains to be seen whether students will be able to get back into their classrooms before the end of the 2019-2020 school year, but 20 Grade 12 students preparing for post-secondary education this fall have been recognized for the enduring legacies they have left behind. Last week, Neighbourhood Network announced the 2020 recipients of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6SI","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 10:24:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}