{"id":32662,"date":"2023-02-23T18:00:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T23:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=32662"},"modified":"2023-02-23T18:00:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T23:00:21","slug":"bursaries-for-students-in-the-offing-as-neighbourhood-network-launches-2023-give-back-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/bursaries-for-students-in-the-offing-as-neighbourhood-network-launches-2023-give-back-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Bursaries for students in the offing as Neighbourhood Network launches 2023 Give Back Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you a graduating high school student who has contributed a lot to the community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you need a bit of money to help you on the next journey of your life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider applying for a 2023 Give Back Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications are now being accepted for the annual Give Back Awards, an initiative of Neighbourhood Network, which provides $1,000 cash prizes for up to 20 graduating students in Aurora, King, Newmarket, Whitchurch-Stouffville, East Gwillimbury and Georgina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Give Back Awards are unique in that they don\u2019t focus specifically on academic success, but rather demonstrated contributions and leadership within the school and into the wider community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been so encouraging over the last two years of the pandemic to see the creative ways that high school students are volunteering and giving back to their community,\u201d said Neighbourhood Network Manager Erin Cerenzia in a statement. \u201cThe Give Back Awards are all about celebrating these unique and positive contributions, and the inspirational ways that students help us build better communities together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sometimes it\u2019s hard for us to talk about ourselves and the ways we give back. Ms. Cerenzia tells The Auroran that it\u2019s important for interested students to step up and tell their stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUsually people who are giving back are not doing it for the recognition,\u201d she says. \u201cWe at Neighbourhood Network, especially when you think about the fact these recipients will be celebrated at National Volunteer Week, want to inspire people to get involved and become a volunteer. If you\u2019re hesitant to apply, if you\u2019re worried that \u2018it\u2019s not really me to brag about my volunteer experience,\u2019 I would reframe it and shift that narrative. I\u2019d say, \u2018I could actually be inspiring someone,\u2019 whether it\u2019s a younger high school student, adult, a senior \u2013 you can inspire anyone to give back to your community. We definitely encourage you to tell your story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story is important when Neighbourhood Network is reviewing applicants, as is an accompanying sponsorship letter from a leader of an organization or organizations at which applicants volunteered \u201cwho can really speak to the great work you\u2019ve done there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They typically receive in the area of 80 applicants each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt makes it a real tough process for our adjudications team and that\u2019s why our score card is so key for us,\u201d she says. \u201c[Applicants should] be really clear in how you describe your volunteer contributions. You\u2019ll notice when you read the application you don\u2019t have to have volunteered at a dozen different organizations. You don\u2019t have to have a high number total volunteer hours. What we really care about is the impact volunteering has had on your life and therefore the community and neighbours around you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing really clear in how you tell that story of your volunteer contributions and commitment would be the best piece of advice I could give to applicants who are submitting a Give Back Awards application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applications for the 2023 Give Back Award program will be accepted until Friday, March 24, at 4 p.m. Forms are available online at www.nnetwork.org\/GiveBackAwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Are you a graduating high school student who has contributed a lot to the community? Do you need a bit of money to help you on the next journey of your life? Consider applying for a 2023 Give Back Award. Applications are now being accepted for the annual Give Back Awards, an initiative of Neighbourhood […]<\/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-32662","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\/p3D2k4-8uO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 06:12:09","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\/32662","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=32662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}