School Perseverance Days
Heritage College honours six perseverance superheroes
Heritage College honoured six perseverance veterans or “superheroes” on February 15. The goal of this event was to encourage the community to support students, to prevent them from dropping out of school and to convince them of the advantage of obtaining a diploma or qualification.
The honourees were Jocelyn Blondin, James Shea, Christine Smyth, Jean Scott, Jeremy Howard, and Nick Strachan.
Mr Blondin is a Gatineau city councillor for Manoir-des-Trembles-Val-Tétreau ward, but was previously a school board commissioner for the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais (CSPO) from 1994 to 1998, and President from 1998 to 2013. Mr Blondin is also a founding member of Table-Education Outaouais (TÉO) and a member of the Fédération des commissions scolaires du Québec. He acts as a bridge between the City of Gatineau and the education sector.
Much like Mr Blondin, Mr Shea has long been active in the education field. As a teacher, Mr Shea moved up the ranks to eventually become superintendent of an Ottawa school board.
He is also the Western Quebec School Board’s Chairman and sits on Heritage College’s Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. His community work is well known.
Ms Scott has also been very active with the College, focusing on Aboriginal student engagement. She invites Aboriginal spokespersons, elders, professionals, artists, community leaders and educators to participate in activities with students. Among other tasks, she coordinates the College's Aboriginal Education Council and encourages student membership.
Another honoree was Ms Smyth, who has been active with Heritage College for over three decades. She has been a mentor to many students and has helped create memories by organizing events such as Graduation and the Awards Evening.
Mr Howard been busy organizing intramural sports for students and employees at Heritage, on and off campus. He also helps mentor students in Heritage's Student Association and participates on many college committees that benefit the promotion and visibility of the College. He gives a lot of his time on many weekends and evenings not only in the fulfillment of his duties, but to assist students in general.
Like Mr Howard, Mr Strachan has remained active in education by organizing extracurricular activities, specifically in drama. He also organizes the annual creative writing contest and publishes The First Edition, a journal of student literary works submitted to the contest.
