Alexander Fahey and Grace Lee were named the male and female recipients of the 2023 John Rossiter Memorial Youth of the Year Award during the Focus on Youth banquet and awards ceremony held last week. The City of Mount Pearl hosts the award ceremony annually to honour outstanding young people. From left to right are Mayor Dave Aker, Grace Lee, Alexander Fahey, and Karen Rossiter, sister of the late John Rossiter, for whom the award is named. Mark Squibb photo
By Mark Squibb \ May 26, 2023
The City of Mount Pearl hosted it’s thirty-third annual Focus on Youth Awards show last Wednesday and recognised a number of the city’s accomplished young people.
All told, 14 awards were handed out, recognising the artistry, athleticism, creativity, ingenuity, and character of students.
“A lot of good things happen because of the youth of this city,” said Mayor Dave Aker. He also extended thanks to those who took time to nominate a youth or youth organizations, and those who organized and volunteered to make the awards show a reality.
The first award of the night was for Sport Team of the Year. That award went to the Mount Pearl Soccer Association (MPSA) Girls Under 15 (Tier 2) Soccer Team. It won silver at both the MPSA 50th Anniversary Kick Off Tournament and the Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association’s (NLSA) Girls Under 15 Tier 2 Mega provincial tournament and bronze in the Premiere Youth League (PYL) Girls Under 15 Tier 2 Final PYL Weekend. Many of the girls referee and coach younger teams, and others work with MPSA during the summer months.
The next award, Athlete of the Year, was broken down into a male and female division, and both accolades went to members of the Mount Pearl Marlins Swim Team — Chris Weeks and Kailey Murrin.
Weeks was a member of the national Canada Winter Games team where he won silver medals in the 50m and 100m freestyle and a gold medal in the 50m fly. He holds the record for the fastest 50m fly by any Canadian 18 years old and under. Weeks also won a silver medal at the Eastern Canadian Championships and finished fourth in the 100 m freestyle. He frequently volunteers with the Mini Marlins Swim group.
Murrin, meanwhile, holds three individual provincial records and 20 club records. She has competed in provincial, atlantic, and national competitions, and was one of four students selected to represent the province at the Hicken International Invitational Swim. She has also worked with the Special Olympics and Rainbow Riders.
The STEM Award recognises students proficient in sciences and mathematics. It went to Eric Goulding, a first-year engineering student at Memorial University who completed his first semester with a perfect 4.0 GPA. While a student at Mount Pearl Senior High, Goulding was lead designer for the Underwater Robotics Team “Husky Explorer,” spending 10 hours a week designing the many components for the team’s robot. Goulding has won many awards and accolades and has placed second in the Science Atlantic Mathematics Competition, first in the W.J. Blundon Mathematics Competition, first for MPSH in the University of Waterloo’s Euclid Math Contest and second in the province at the University of Waterloo’s Canadian Computing Competition.
Summer Bennett was awarded the Performing Arts Individual Award. Bennett, a level one student at Mount Pearl Senior High, was recently selected as one of 15 Canadians to attend Honey Jam, in Toronto. She has been awarded music development grants from Factor Canada and Music NL, won a Music NL Newfound Talent Contest, and in May of 2022 released a single, “Carsick,” that has enjoyed great success and earned plaudits. Bennett has recently signed a record deal and hopes to release her first album soon.
The Visual Arts Award went to Argeline Cabral, a level three student at Mount Pearl Senior High. Cabral excels in the school’s Excellence in Art program and was the recent recipient of the Mount Pearl Senior High Creativity Award. Cabral helps with many extracurricular programs at her school.
The Literary Arts Award went to O’Donel High’s Brianna Fleming, winner of the 2022 O’Donel Holiday Writing Contest. Fleming was noted to be meticulous, often writing multiple drafts prior to submission.
The final arts award to be presented, the Performing Arts Group Award, was accorded to both nominees — the O’Donel High Drama Club for its performance of “The World’s Nine Worst Break Ups of All Time,” and the Mount Pearl Senior High Production of “Into the Woods.”
Both groups performed selections from their productions during the banquet, complete with song and dance and costumes.
The Youth in Service Award was given to level three O’ Donel student Alexander Fahey. He volunteers with the St. Peter’s Primary Breakfast Club, the Students Commission of Canada, and presides over the O’Donel High Student Council.
The Youth Group of the Year Award went to the O’Donel High School First Responders.
O’Donel is one of only two high schools in the entire province with its own first responder group. All team members are trained and equipped by St. John Ambulance and provide basic and advanced care when called upon. Students attend weekly meetings and monthly training scenarios and are “on call” to provide help during school hours and at school and community events.
O’ Donel High student Alexander Corbett was named the Youth Volunteer of the Year.
Corbett volunteers on the school’s Student Council, runs the ODAthleticsNL social media page, helps with Spirit Days, is a member of the O’Donel First Responder’s group, and organized the O’Donel Relay for Life. Furthermore, he is involved in a number of other fundraisers within the school and community.
The final award of the night, Youth of the Year, was awarded to both a male and female recipient.
Alexander Fahey of O’Donel High was named the Male Youth of the Year. Fahey, the school’s student council president, maintains a 97 percent average and has received an early admission to Carleton University’s Aerospace Engineering Program and a $16,000 entrance scholarship. Outside the classroom, Fahey is a blackbelt in Kempo Karate and coaches young athletes at Rock Athletics. He volunteers with many organizations, was named a Duke of Edinburgh gold participant, and completed a community collection for a school in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.
Grace Lee was named female Youth of the Year. Lee, a level 3 student at Mount Pearl Senior High, maintains a 97 percent academic average, presides over the student council, coaches the Mount Pearl Intermediate volleyball team, plays in the school band, competes on Team NL’s provincial volleyball team along with a host of other volleyball teams, and also plays basketball, soccer, badminton, and softball. She recently won the RISE Award to the Boston Leadership Institute for biomedical and surgical research. Lee placed in the top 25 percent in the national Waterloo math contest, received the McMaster Life Science Entrance Scholarship and UTM Principals Entrance Award for forensic science.
Alex Taylor, Summer Bennett, Amy Rowsell, and members of the Mount Pearl Senior High and the O’Donel High Drama Club kept the audience entertained throughput the night with musical and drama interludes.
