Four graduating students from the local area picked up major academic awards at St. FX University’s Spring Convocation on Sunday.
University Gold Medals, awarded to students with the highest average in the final three years of
an honours, advanced major or major degree program or the final two years of a diploma or education degree program were presented to Erin Noftall of Abercrombie in Human Kinetics, Graham MacDonald of Antigonish in Engineering and Julia Shields of St. Andrews in Arts and Science. Olivia Pretty of River John was a co-recipient of a Gold Medal in Education along with Katie Ball of Hammonds Plains. Noftall also captured the G. N. Murphy Prize for proficiency in Medical studies, MacDonald was one of two recipients for the J. Wallace Farrell Memorial Prize in Engineering along with Sam Silver of Antigonish
Other award winners at convocation include Michael Gillis of Antigonish, who captured the John and Mary Fraser Memorial Prize for Senior Religious Studies; and Alexander Lambourne of Antigonish, who received the Department of English Senior Honours Thesis Prize. Elise Canning of Antigonish receives three awards; the Margaret MacGillivray-MacDougall Prize for English, Reverend R. J. MacSween Prize for English, and the Department of English Senior Honours Thesis Prize. Another multi-award winner is Kegan Palmer of Judique, capturing the Dr. John B. Stewart Scholarship for Political Science, Walter Kontak Prize in Political Science, the Allard Tobin Travel Award and the Jules Leger Undergraduate Scholarship for Achievement in Humanities and Social Studies. As well, Michael LeBlanc of Lower South River receives the Mining Society of Nova Scotia Centennial Scholarship Medal, the Dr. Randall F. Cormier Award for Best Thesis in Earth Sciences and the Professor Donald J. MacNeil Memorial Award for Earth Sciences.
Kolby Gennoe of Stellarton is the recipient of the East Coast Credit Union Prize in Entrepreneurship while Matthew Penner was presented with the Dr. M. S. Gautam Memorial Prize for Physics. Human Nutrition student Rebecca Demmings of Antigonish is a recipient of the Sodexo Canada Award.
