Students from four Saanich secondary students were among 42 young people honoured by the Kiwanis Club of Victoria at a special reception held at the Cedar Hill Golf Club earlier this month.
“It is a wonderful event to recognize the students who have gone above and beyond to achieve their own personal goals and to assist others in achieving theirs,” said Paul DeGagne, Kiwanis director and event organizer.
Students chosen have the “giving back” characteristic that Kiwanis embraces and celebrates, he said.
This year’s honourees included students from Lambrick Park secondary, Mount Douglas secondary, Reynolds secondary and Spectrum community schools, as well as teens from Esquimalt secondary, Oak Bay High and Victoria High schools.
"It's not an easy task to whittle our graduating class from about 300 kids to about six, but I do have some stars," said Rob House, principal of Spectrum.
Spectrum students honoured for their achievements were Lesley Cambridge, Bethany Langkamer, Nathan Patterson, Amina Rajput, Emma Sullivan and Tegan Sykes.
"These six students are some of our finest leaders," added Reynolds principal Tom Aerts. "They are the type of students that any school would be proud to have to be a part of their community and culture.
"I asked each one what their passion was, and all six had the exact same answer, which was helping people. They just love to give and help each other. And they're the type of student who make Reynolds really good."
Reynolds recognized Zenani Boya, Kathryn Johnson, Lindsay Peacock, Faelin Prentice, Monique Sekhon and Anna Sollazzo.
Also recognized were Mitch Bryan, Jake Hamilton, Vicki Kleu, Josh Mariveles, Ashley Tavares and Emilie Wong from Lambrick Park, and Ninu Forrest, Matt Hausmann, Foster McGee, Eric Pollard, Carley Sanga and Tamiko Sianen from Mount Douglas.
The Victoria Kiwanis Club Appreciation event has been held for more than 38 years. For more information, go to kiwanisvictoria.ca.
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