{"id":33027,"date":"2023-05-04T19:57:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T23:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33027"},"modified":"2023-05-04T19:57:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T23:57:35","slug":"ycdsb-recognizes-petrillo-nembhard-rossi-anderson-calarco-and-la-neve-as-distinguished-alumni-award-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/ycdsb-recognizes-petrillo-nembhard-rossi-anderson-calarco-and-la-neve-as-distinguished-alumni-award-winners\/","title":{"rendered":"YCDSB recognizes Petrillo, Nembhard, Rossi, Anderson, Calarco, and La Neve as Distinguished Alumni Award Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The York Catholic District School Board honored six of its graduates in a ceremony at the Catholic Education Centre on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CBC and TSN Sportscaster Andi Petrillo, NBA rookie guard Andrew Nembhard of the Indiana Pacers, Digital Marketer and Cartoonist Daniele Rossi, Television Producer and Station Manager James Anderson, UT Professor and Researcher John Calarco, and Sick Kids Registered Nurse Maria-Rosa La Neve brought video greetings to the 350 attendees gathered in the CEC\u2019s Board Room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a telephone interview, Petrillo reflected on the best part of being named a 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award Winner. The graduate of St. Joan of Arc CHS noted that \u201call the memories keep flooding back and I\u2019ve had a chance to relive the good times and go through my memorabilia from elementary school and high school.  It\u2019s been a really nice trip down memory lane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrillo\u2014a pioneer in broadcasting whose work at Leafs TV, Hockey Night in Canada, CBC\u2019s Olympic Coverage, and her radio program Leafs Lunch on TSN Radio 1050 earned her a Canadian Screen Award for Best Sports Host\u2014felt \u201chumbled\u201d when she was contacted by the YCDSB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t believe it at first. I\u2019ve tried to be the best version of myself and it was great to know I had such an impact on my community and my teachers. I cherished their lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a wonderful moment of synergy, one of Petrillo\u2019s \u201cteachers\u201d was also a fellow honoree on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Anderson, an intrepid veteran television producer and station manager, mentored Petrillo during her formative years as a volunteer student at Rogers\u2019 Newkirk studio in Richmond Hill.  She acknowledged how deserving Anderson is of the recognition and how important he was to her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was my first producer; the first person in my ear and the first person to give me a broadcasting opportunity. He was the \u2018Voice of God\u2019 in my ear and used his sense of humor to keep us positive.  We were a bunch of volunteers cutting our teeth at the studio and, my goodness, I was rough. He was so patient with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrillo applauded her mentor\u2019s place among the board\u2019s 2023 Distinguished Alumni: \u201cSo good for him\u2014Jim\u2019s a special person, a calming and professional influence on so many.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Petrillo\u2019s modest mentor\u2014whose 37-year career in community television has, indeed, been incredibly influential\u2014was similarly humbled by the honor bestowed upon him at the CEC ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith this list of honorees, I\u2019m not sure where I fit in, but I\u2019ve always viewed the broadcasters I\u2019ve nurtured over the years as my extended family. It\u2019s been very satisfying to set up so many in their careers. Being recognized by the Board and appearing on the posters that are displayed in all the schools is really a validation for me and the hundreds of broadcasting students I\u2019ve helped form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affable graduate of St. Robert Catholic High School and Our Lady Help of Christians CES views his work in television studios as a \u201cvocation where I have managed some amazing people and their careers. I made a choice years ago that this would be my career and it has given me so much satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anderson\u2019s fellow honoree, Daniele Rossi, was equally moved by the experience of being named as a Distinguished Alumni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter hearing everybody\u2019s stories, we\u2019re all ordinary people who have achieved so well in our fields.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graduate of St. Elizabeth CHS found the ceremony \u201ca bit scary\u2014there was a lot of nervousness when I accepted the award but it felt very nice to be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rossi\u2019s influential book, Stuttering is Cool, is used by speech therapists and his podcast of the same name supports many people who stutter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never thought the podcast would last but here we are at 48 episodes. The book has sold so well I am writing a second one. I love encouraging kids to overcome their challenges and I\u2019m happy that my comic books have had a positive impact on kids that stutter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rossi has been \u201cdrawing comics and stuttering for most of [my] life\u201d and he offers encouragement to his on-line community Stutter Social.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third award winner in attendance at the CEC ceremony was Registered Nurse Maria-Rosa La Neve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clinical research nurse coordinator and RSV nurse coordinator at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto found the YCDSB\u2019s honor to be \u201ca bit overwhelming, but it was so nice to be recognized with my sister and husband present to share the moment with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Neve, currently working in the Division of Infectious Diseases\u2014specifically in the Respiratory Syncytial Virus program \u2013 soldiered through the darkest days of the COVID Pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was \u201csurprised and honored\u201d to be selected as Distinguished Alumni, but was \u201ctruly moved to be getting recognition as a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The graduate of St. Robert Catholic High School is a community leader and strives every day to \u201cadvocate for people who can\u2019t advocate for themselves\u201d in her administrative and nursing role at Sick Kids Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

La Neve\u2019s gratitude towards her high school community was evident in her video address in which she thanked her science teachers who were \u201cprofessional, inquisitive, and intellectual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a video, NCAA and professional basketball star Andrew Nembhard also thanked his teachers, specifically at St. Jerome CES, who \u201ctaught me to be myself\u201d and \u201cprovided a positive influence and an early start\u201d to his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nembhard, who recently completed his NBA rookie season with the Pacers, enjoyed a number of magical moments in his inaugural year in the league. Perhaps most noteworthy was his stellar 25-point performance at the Scotiabank Arena in a 118-114 win over the Raptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nembhard gave back to his community in March by providing tickets for 200 friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Included in this group was Nembhard\u2019s Grade 8 teacher and basketball coach Glenn Reid from St. Jerome CES. The north Aurora school was the place where Nembhard succeeded as a student-athlete and spent some of his most formative years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also acknowledging his teachers via video was Professor John Calarco who thanked his \u201cscience teachers at Father Bressani CHS who went far and beyond the usual and let me do individual experiments in the lab after school. Their care and compassion for my love of science was so important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The assistant professor and researcher \u201cdoes extensive research in the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto. He has also served as \u201ca Canada Research Chair in Neural RNA Biology and started a research lab at Harvard University,\u201d according to the YCDSB\u2019s Media Advisory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The YCDSB\u2019s Distinguished Alumni of 2023 have certainly satisfied the board\u2019s performance criteria by \u201cmaking significant contributions to their respective careers and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The York Catholic District School Board honored six of its graduates in a ceremony at the Catholic Education Centre on Tuesday. CBC and TSN Sportscaster Andi Petrillo, NBA rookie guard Andrew Nembhard of the Indiana Pacers, Digital Marketer and Cartoonist Daniele Rossi, Television Producer and Station Manager James Anderson, UT Professor and Researcher John Calarco, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2023-05-04-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8AH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-16 16:37:52","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\/33027","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=33027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}