2012 Alumni Awards of Excellence
JOIN US FOR THE 2012 ALUMNI AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE CELEBRATION
Capilano alumni are invited to attend the 2012 Alumni Awards of Excellence celebration on May 9th at the Pan Pacific Hotel. Come out and join fellow alumni and members of the Capilano community for a festive evening honoring the achievements of this year’s amazing recipients!
To register, follow the registration link below and please promote the event to other alumni you know –
http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=4shnt6dab&oeidk=a07e5sjej312e6521a3
If you would like to nominate someone for a 2013 award contact Janis Connolly at 604.990.7968.
Hope to see you on May 9th!
We are grateful to our generous sponsors of the 2012 event -
Returning Presenting Sponsor, Genus Capital Management
Returning Gold Sponsors - Capilano University Faculty Association and RBC
Silver Sponsors -
Best Service Pros, Concord Security, COPE 378, Global Payments Canada, Long View Systems, VINCI Park
Last May, Capilano University was proud to honour eight extraordinary recipients at the 2011 awards celebration. Video clips from the celebratory evening are presented below.
President’s Service Award
Pat Dejong
Pat Dejong is the 2011 recipient of the President’s Service Award. She has served Capilano as a member and chair of the University Board as well as a member of the Foundation Board for 12 years. Her contributions as a volunteer in governance took place during a decade in which there were dramatic changes at Capilano,and while she was immersed in a challenging career as an executive with BMO. She is known for her fondness for Capilano, her commitment to its values and for the mix of modesty, wit, and drive with which she carried out her duties. Pat also provided inspiration and leadership to the Committee for the search for a new President.
Awards for Excellence in Empowering Learning
Capilano’s Alumni Association established this award in 2011 to recognize members of Capilano faculty, staff and administration for significant contributions to student learning.
2011 Recipients:
Doug Abercrombie
Retiring head coach of the Blues Women’s Soccer program, Doug has been an inspirational leader for female student athletes at Capilano for the past 16 years. Under his coaching, the women’s Blues have earned five national titles, eight provincial titles, two BC Colleges Athletics Association Coach of the Year awards, as well as a large share of the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association Soccer Supremacy Award Capilano won for dominating the sport at the national level from 1974 to 1999.Doug was a prolific coach as well as amentor and a teacher. Doug defined the importance of education above all, advocating for success in the classroom as well as the athletic field.
Janet MacDonald
Over the past 35 years, Janet MacDonald has enthusiastically contributed to nurturing a challenging and professional learning environment for students as well as a resourceful and high quality environment where the lives of the Centre’s children are enriched. Janet first began work as a substitute child educator at the then Capilano College’s Child Care Centre, ultimately becoming the Manager of Child Care Services in 1996 when the Capilano Children’s Centre opened. During that time she made the Children’s Centre the heart of the campus, by fostering a climate that has enabled faculty to bring their students to the Centre to enrich and complement studies in their discipline.
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Initiated in 2007, the Distinguished Alumni Awards honour Capilano University alumni who have distinguished themselves and Capilano through success in their professional endeavours or through significant contributions in their field of work or humanity.
2011 Recipients:
Mark Watson
For the past decade, Mark Watson’s passion and commitment to the sport of soccer distinguished him as a first class athlete and coach. Mark was a member of the Capilano Blues soccer team between 1989 and 1991 and instrumental in helping his team win the Provincial Collegiate Championship and the National Championship silver medal in 1991. He studied Arts and Sciences at Capilano before transferring to UBC where he earned a Bachelor of Human Kinetics. He is an amazing record holder! Playing for the Canadian National team, he earned the second most Senior Club Appearances in the history of the team. Internationally he holds the record for playing the most games for our Olympic team (23 games). And as a coach, he holds the record of being the youngest coach at every top level of competition (College, Professional and National). Currently assistant coach with the San Jose Earthquakes, Mark is pursuing his dream of coaching at the highest level in North America.
Cory Weeds
Cory Weeds’ name symbolizes nearly every role on the Vancouver jazz scene: musician, record producer, radio host, agent and jazz club owner. Raised in a musical family, Cory earned his Jazz Studies diploma at Capilano and then attended the music program at the University of North Texas. He took a leap of faith in 2000 and bought the Cellar Jazz Club , quickly turning it into Vancouver’s only full time jazz club. The club has since showcased the best Canadian and international jazz talent. Compilations of some of the Cellar’s live performances saw the birth of his successful record label, Cellar Live . To sum, his musical colleague and Capilano Jazz Studies faculty member, Kate Hammett-Vaughan, said, “Not only has Cory contributed greatly to the cultural life of Vancouver music-lovers by creating the Cellar Jazz Club , he has made a significant contribution to the artistic lives of Vancouver’s jazz community by creating a space with a listening audience, a place for us to present our own musical projects and to enjoy hearing other members of our community perform.”
One to Watch Awards
Introduced in 2008, the One to Watch Awards celebrate the accomplishments of alumni less than 10 years removed from their studies at Capilano.
2011 Recipients:
Deanne Lazaruk
Deanne earned a Mountain Bike Operations Certificate after completing a BA in Kinesiology and Applied Health. Additionally she holds a Level 4 National Coaching Certification Program designation, extremely challenging to obtain, with few women in Canada holding this certification. Since graduating from the Capilano Mountain Bike program, Deanne was hired by the International Mountain Biking Association on their first Canadian Trail Care Crew. She travels nationally, spending most of the year on road, repairing, building and reclaiming trails and teaching sustainable building practices and educating trail users in land stewardship and capacity building for trail development. What is inspiring and important about Deanne’s work is that she brings communities together through her education in sustainable trail building and users across Canada become stewards of the land, building legacies that will provide outdoor recreational opportunities for generations.
Krissi Bucholtz
The career objective on Krissi Bucholtz’ CV states that she dreams of becoming a teacher and transform lives in an area of the world where a good education is a rare opportunity. The Global Stewardship graduate of Capilano has already taken giant steps to achieve this. After spending time in Sierra Leone in high school, Krissi was moved to start an organization while attending Capilano that gave voice to young women in the Sierra Leone community. The result was the formation of a new organization, the Planning for the Elimination of Poverty through Love and Education (or PEOPLE), to provide mentoring and counselling programs to youth, particularly young girls. Krissi was recently awarded the Mahatma Ghandi scholarship for voluntary community service in areas related to peace, justice and human rights by SFU, where she hopes to finish her degree in World Literature in 2012. A colleague at PEOPLE provides a glowing summation of her efforts, “At the age of 19 Krissi has had the clarity of vision and determination to tread where few people will ever tread. Through her work with the NGO, she is helping to bring HIV/AIDS education, peer mentoring and university scholarship programs to an area of the world where people have endured unimaginable hardship through colonialism, corruption and civil war.”
Sean Aiken
Sean Aiken’s fellow alumnus and nominator called what Sean did since graduating from Capilano with his BBA, “a stunning feat of adventurer’s spirit, turning the biggest graduating student challenge into a playground of opportunity.” A 4.0 grade point average valedictorian, Sean didn’t have a clear road map of what might be the best career option for him. So he took his uncertainty on the road in a journey to discover his passion. Many in the audience may be familiar with the media publicity surrounding his ultimate plan – to work in 52 jobs over a year. Sean managed to work at 52 jobs ranging from bungee jumping to stock trading to early childhood education, trekking more than 74,000 km and sleeping on 55 couches. He wrote a book about his adventure, The One Week Job Project . He further launched the One Week Job Project Summer Program, providing students from across North America with the opportunity to experience a mini journey similar to his own. The documentary accompanies Sean on tour, where he inspires other entrepreneurs to follow their passions.