The Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) honoured some of its own as it presented Everyday Hero awards to several individuals, families and groups.
Among the award recipients at the seventh annual awards gala held at John F. Ross school in Guelph on May 28 were Wellington Heights Secondary School teacher Jessica Rowden, Elora Public School education assistant Kathy Cunningham and Rockwood Centennial Public School parent volunteer Deb Drake.
The awards honour board staff, volunteers and parents who help out on a daily basis at local schools.
Board chair Mark Bailey said the awards honour those “who go beyond the call of duty.”
“It is all types of heroes we are quietly celebrating,” Bailey said at the ceremony.
Director of education Martha Rogers said, “There are heroes who live among us who do their work unceremoniously. We’re going to let you know you have been noticed.”
This year the board’s selection committee chose nine winners out of 17 nominations.
“It’s a difficult task to choose winners,” Bailey said.
“Jessica Rowden lives the Wellington Heights Secondary School motto ‘Pride, Respect, Friendship’ every day by being a friend, colleague, teacher and students’ advocate who improves the understanding and integration of staff, community and students,” Bailey said of the family studies and social sciences teacher who accepted the award with her young daughter Ellie.
“She is cited as a true leader, who inspires and offers friendship to other staff members. Jess puts countless hours into helping students participate in school activities and creating a feeling of worth for themselves.”
In introducing Cunningham, Bailey asked, “What do you do when you find out that an Elora Public School boy didn’t have a lunch every day for three months because his mother was unable to do it?”
He said, “If you’re Kathy Cunningham, an EA at the school, you provide a nutritious lunch and quietly slip it into his backpack so others don’t notice.”
Cunningham, Bailey said, “finds out what interests her special needs students and uses that knowledge to deliver the curriculum to them in ways that stir their imagination.”
Trustee Kathryn Cooper called Drake “a fixture at Rockwood Centennial for the past 12 years” who “has endless energy and has spent hundreds of hours volunteering at the school.
“It’s not just the successful grant writing proposals that have resulted in excess of $30,000 raised to support instrumental music, the at-home literacy and the Rockwood Can Dance program that has her colleagues and students calling her an Everyday Hero.”
Bailey told the recipients, “In the end it is our students who benefit from all your efforts.”
Other recipients were Shawna Brailsford, the Sullivan family (Andrew and Catherine and sons Sam, Jack and Ben), Alison Moutrey and Trish Tworeck, Martha MacNeil, Trevolyn Louttet and a group of parent volunteers at Brant Avenue PS in Guelph.
