On the evening of May 24th the New Frontier School Board hosted their eighth annual Outstanding Citizens Awards at Howard S. Billings High School in Chateauguay.
The ceremony was to honour 29 Outstanding Citizens and nine “Character Counts!” Art Contest winners in an initiative originally set forth by Dewittville resident Lindsay Strachan, who is affectionately known as the « Bucket
Lady ». While Strachan has since retired from the NFSB, she left behind a legacy of bucket filling, character pillars and second-step programs, inspiring those around her to work towards making others feel good (she encouraged coworkers and students to leave notes in buckets left on each others’ desks). The 2015-2016 winners were awarded at the ceremony with a personalized issue of the Outstanding Citizen magazine and a referral letter from NFSB Director General Rob Buttars.
Every year, all the schools under the New Frontier School Board participate in the Outstanding Citizens Awards by asking teachers from each school to come together to nominate two or three students for recognition (there are 10 elementary schools, two high schools and three adult centres under the NFSB umbrella). According to Director General Buttars, “Our 2016 Outstanding Citizens are the leaders not only of tomorrow, but of today and we thank them. These young people are the leaders their peers look to for guidance, they are the go-to people for their teachers when a job needs to get done, and they are the ones who won’t look the other way when something isn’t right. They are the citizens in our communities who inspire us to want to do better.” The evening also acknowledged the winners of the Our Character Counts! Art Contest, which highlights not only students’ artistic talents, but demonstrates that the students understand the true meaning of caring, respect, fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility and citizenship.
Out of the 38 students that either won the art contest or were deemed Outstanding Citizens, 25 of them came from the Chateauguay Valley. The local winners were: Dakota Adams, Riley Aitkins, Connor Bryson, Brian Choinière, Meghan Condie, Madison Cortese, Taylor Faille, Lindsay Gruer, Amy Howard (art), Andrew Kerr, Reilly Lister (art), Maeve McIntyre, Bailey O’Farrell, Audrey-Anne Paquette (art), Meagan Paulin (art), Bethany Prévost (art), Fiona Renaud, Jacob Robidoux, William Ross (art), Nevada Ruck, David Seguire (art), Mya Sheaves-Blair, Naomi Sinray, Abby Trepanier and Pamela Vetro.
The NFSB is the only school board in Quebec that celebrates Outstanding Citizens and Artists.
