2004  MEDAL WINNERS AND VALEDICTORIAN

VALEDICTORIAN

Luke Bambauer
Luke Bambauer was born in Vanderhoof, later moving to Kamloops with his family where he attended Brocklehurst Secondary School.

Here, he also pursued his many outdoor interests including mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding and camping. After high school, Luke traveled and worked as a volunteer, building churches in Japan and doing grounds and kitchen work at a Christian university in Hawaii.

He returned to Kamloops after a few years and enrolled in UCC's Welding C program where he attained a 98 per cent average. He plans to work his way toward the required Welding C apprenticeship hours before returning to UCC to earn his Welding B and A certifications.
 
GOVERNOR GENERAL'S ACADEMIC MEDAL (COLLEGIATE SILVER)

Sarah van Heeswijk
Born and raised in Princeton, BC, where she graduated from Princeton Secondary School, Sarah was an active 4-Her, raising a lamb project each year. Since that time, she has continued to volunteer in 4-H activities and campus initiatives.

While attaining the highest marks of any degree graduate this year, she also found time to volunteer as the student society representative for challenged students, and as President of the Biology Undergraduate Society. She is currently working in a summer position with the provincial government in 4-H and bioproducts support.

She plans to apply for a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council scholarship to pursue a Master's degree in Biology.

GOVERNOR GENERAL'S ACADEMIC MEDAL (COLLEGIATE BRONZE)

Meredith LeNeveu
Meredith grew up in Fernie, and graduated from Fernie Secondary School. A true scholar, she earned two Bachelor of Science degrees, one in Biology and the other in Psychology, before entering UCC's Animal Health Technology program on the urging of her sister, a former graduate of the program.

A lifelong lover of animals, Meredith has worked in vet hospitals and volunteered at a wildlife rehabilitation centre, and looks forward to hands-on work with animals in a vet hospital, research lab, aquarium or zoo, with the ultimate goal of working with marine mammals. 

UCC MEDAL IN SCIENCE

David Cruickshank
David was born and raised in Kamloops, graduating from Westsyde secondary, earning his private pilot's license and traveling extensively before enrolling in physics at UCC.

Active in and out of the classroom, David is an accomplished woodworker and has also volunteered with the Rotary Club and a car club in Kelowna, and last year built a fire-fighting water truck, as well as a cloud chamber for the UCC Physics department.

Inspired by Stephen Lewis who inaugurated the UCC President's Lecture Series in January, David will spend the winter in Africa doing humanitarian work before applying to medical school.

UCC MEDAL IN EDUCATION

Sophia Sarrasin
Sophia was born in Kamloops, completed her secondary schooling and a couple of years of university-transfer in Victoria, then returned to Kamloops where she earned a UCC Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002, and received the Arts medal at convocation that year.

Fully bilingual, she has already secured a position as school librarian and teacher of French immersion kindergarten in Merritt. She plans to complete a Bachelor of Science degree over the next couple of years, with the ultimate goal of becoming a high school math teacher.

UCC MEDAL IN BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY IN APPLIED COMPUTING SCIENCES

Shawn Anderson
Shawn was born and raised in Kamloops, graduating from Westsyde secondary. After completing a Computer Systems: Operations and Management diploma at UCC, he laddered into the BT/ACS program, also completing 32 months of co-operative education training.

An active outdoorsperson, he likes golfing, skiing, mountain biking, rollerblading, camping and traveling, which he balances with a love for music, charcoal drawing, and all forms of computing. He currently holds a position with the Fire Centre in the Kootenays.

He plans to work in the IT industry and possibly work toward a Master's degree in a couple of years.

UCC MEDAL IN NURSING

Suzanne Bruce
Suzanne was raised in Kamloops, graduating from Kamloops secondary before entering UCC, where she completed a year of general studies then went into nursing.

During her studies, she received a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to work with an interdisciplinary research team, presenting the findings at a national conference this past February.

She plans to work in the specialty area of mental health nursing.

 

UCC MEDAL IN ARTS

Liam Mitchell
Liam grew up in Kamloops, and graduated from Valleyview secondary before enrolling in the general arts program at UCC, where he pursued concentrations in political science and economics, making the Dean's List every semester.

An active volunteer, he has a radio show on the campus-community radio station, was a writer for the Omega campus newspaper, and plays in the Kamloops community band. An accomplished musician, he plays piano, guitar and saxophone, and is currently teaching music lessons.

He has been awarded a graduate assistantship and fellowship to pursue a Master's degree in Political Science at York University this September.

UCC MEDAL IN JOURNALISM

Sherry Bennett
Sherry Bennett earned many awards in Canadian Studies and English before entering the journalism degree program at UCC.

She has maintained top marks and put her research talents and interest in investigative reporting to use with a Comprehensive University Enhancement Fund scholarship for research on the McLean Boys for the Community-University Research Alliance.

She is freelancing for now, and plans to work for a newspaper after her teenaged son and daughter graduate from high school.

UCC MEDAL IN TOURISM

Alison Aspinall
Alison grew up in Princeton, graduating from Princeton secondary. After a year in engineering studies at UBC, she came to UCC to pursue a degree in tourism, where she maintained top marks and garnered awards as tourism's top student while volunteering extensively on campus.

She has been offered two scholarships and a graduate research assistantship to pursue a master's degree in applied environmental studies at the University of Waterloo.

UCC MEDAL IN FINE ARTS

David Simcox
David was born in Grand Forks, and completed high school in Drayton Valley, Alberta and Dawson Creek before coming to UCC to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

An accomplished painter, David has already had a solo show in the UCC gallery, and says one of the highlights of his education here was a trip to Wells Gray Park to paint with UCC Visual Arts instructor Lloyd Bennett.

His future plans include teaching art, writing, painting and sculpting, while his more immediate goal is to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree at UCC, then apply for a master's program.

UCC MEDAL IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Helene Reichor
Helene was born and raised in Gallneukirchen, Austria, and after graduating from high school and completing a year at the Sports University in Vienna, emigrated to Canada on her own.

An active snowboarder, she shares her expertise as a volunteer children's snowboarding coach, and also volunteers as a fitness instructor at the YM/YWCA. While completing her Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in Accounting, Helene garnered a number of scholarships, and has secured a position at KPMG.

She plans to start work on her Chartered Accountant designation this fall.
 
UCC MEDAL IN NATURAL RESOURCE SCIENCE

Alissa Krawchuk
Born and raised in Kamloops, Alissa Krawchuk graduated from Kamloops secondary, then completed a year of general biology at the University of Victoria before enrolling in Natural Resource Sciences at UCC, where she made the Dean's List each semester.

Her love of the outdoors is not only reflected in her choice of career, but also in her hobbies: downhill and cross-country skiing, kayaking and camping. She also has an active interest in wildlife research, begun as a UCC undergraduate when she worked on a red squirrel field study.

She is currently working for Tolko Forest Products, and plans to work in forestry while pursuing her Registered Professional Forester designation. 

UCC MEDAL IN BACHELOR OF SOCIAL WORK

Justin Walsh
After graduating from Brocklehurst secondary, Justin completed a year of Sociology at UBC before enrolling in the social work program at UCC.

While maintaining a high grade-point average, he conducted a study with one of his professors on housing and mental illness, which he presented this week at the Canadian Association of Social Workers national conference in Saskatoon.

He is currently looking for work in the area of social policy research and plans to pursue graduate studies in public policy.