The inaugural
Pat McAndless Award For Excellence (PMAE) scholarships were presented at the Ceili on Sunday. A bit of background information about Pat and the PMAE:
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| PAT MCANDLESS |
Pat is a longtime NPIDA parent and volunteer, former EBIDS Chair, and an active community and corporate leader. His vision includes encouraging and recognizing compassionate young people who are engaged in their community and beyond. This generous scholarship donation
demonstrates Pat's outstanding commitment to our community! A total of $5000 in scholarships was awarded as follows:
1 $2000 award
1 $1000 award
4 $500 awards
The PMAE recognizes dancers within the NPIDA who demonstrate the highest qualities of passion, work ethic, dedication, persistence, and leadership in pursuit of excellence in Irish dance, academics, and voluntary community service. Please scroll down underneath the profiles of the winners, below, to read more about the application and selection process.
During the award presentations at the Ceili, Christina M (EBIDS Chair) read the following summaries of each winner as written by the PMAE Selection Committee.
Thank you to Pat, the Selection Committee, and Christina!
Congratulations to the 2013 PMAE winners!
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| HANNA S: $2000 WINNER |
HANNA: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "This amazing young
woman not only exemplifies what it takes to be the
top choice for this award - she exemplifies what it takes to be
successful in life and a highly valued member to the numerous
communities of which she is a part. When this young woman makes a
commitment, whether it is to dance, school, or one of her many and
varied volunteer jobs, she is unconditionally dedicated to these
pursuits. Her dance teacher talks about her being an amazing leader,
role model and team player; her teacher (professor) reference commented that she
is in the top 2% of all the students he has taught over the last
decade; and her community reference praises her passion, work ethic,
reliability, persistence and enthusiasm. All of them agree that she
goes above and beyond what is expected in everything she does. She is
truly all this award embodies and it is an honour to have her as our
inaugural winner of the top award".
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| JESSIE H: $1000 WINNER |
JESSIE: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "The committee chose this candidate for clearly representing the vision set forward for the PMAE in the
areas of passion, work ethic,
determination, persistence and leadership. She demonstrates outstanding
passion in all aspects of her life – in dance, academics and community service.
She has a strong work ethic that shines through in everything she works
to achieve. Her strong determination and excellence has been recognized by all
her
references – in dance, school and community service. As well she is truly persistent as illustrated by her drive to recover from injury.
This dancer has extensive community service that acknowledges her desire
to give back to her community – not just the Irish dance community but the
community at large. Through this community service she has stepped
up and shown great leadership even at her young age. She truly is a
deserving candidate for the PMAE".
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| ANNA M: $500 WINNER |
ANNA: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "Some of the many
reasons that moved us to choose this candidate were
the repeated themes we heard from the adults in her life: determination, a gradual growth in confidence, passionate about dance
AND her education, hard working and focused on others. What shines
through the application from this candidate is her concern for others,
her empathy and the leadership skills she has developed through Irish dance. Perhaps the best summary comes from one of her school teachers: "I am so proud of her
that it is difficult to do it justice on paper... anyone who takes the time to get to know her will be the better for it".
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| EMMA B: $500 WINNER |
EMMA: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "This young lady is a
deserving award winner whose references all talk
about her passion, persistence and work ethic. Her school teacher
talks about her being mature beyond her years; her dance teacher
praises her as a strong assistant teacher; and her community
reference notes how she helps and thinks about others before herself.
This award winner is thoughtful and kind and is there for other
dancers to cheer when they have successes and is amazing at comforting
those when an outcome is not as successful as hoped. She is an
incredibly hard worker who remains positive through the ups and downs
of competitive dance as well as life. She is a quiet leader who
models what it takes to be a good student, dancer and community
volunteer".
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| RACHEL S: $500 WINNER |
RACHEL: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "This wonderful young
lady has been busy pursuing her academic dreams while dedicating so much of her
time to giving back to the community. From helping the Eire Born Irish
Dancers to underprivileged children, from women at risk to elderly residents in
residential care facilities, from various churches to summer camps… she
has worked hard and passionately to make their lives or their programs
better, happier and healthier. She is an outstanding leader, role
model and assistant teacher! Everyone that has worked with her knows
how she is always smiling and how much she sincerely enjoys all that
she does. She truly exemplifies all that the PMAE advocates and is well deserving of this prestigious award".
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| MIKAELA P: $500 WINNER |
MIKAELA: From the PMAE Selection Committee: "The committee chose this candidate because of the characteristics she displays in regards to passion, work ethic,
determination, persistence, and leadership. She shows her passion and
work ethic through her commitment to dancing by choosing to dance over
all other social activities, listening attentively to her instructors
to apply feedback immediately to help improve her dancing, and by
going the extra mile for everything she does whether through her
volunteering or academic accomplishments. She shows strong
determination to work hard and persevere even when things are not
going as planned. In addition, she leads by example through the
creativity she displays, the initiative she takes, and the great
teamwork she inspires".
APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS
FOR THE 2013 PMAE SCHOLARSHIPS:
The PMAE applicants were required to describe why they love Irish dance and what their goals were. They also wrote about their volunteer work in their community, how it has made a difference and what they learned from it. They were asked to supply 3 reference letters: 1/Academic, 2/Irish dance teacher, and 3/Community volunteer contact. These reference letters were sealed and included in their application.
An independent evaluation committee comprised of community members with volunteer service and experience in awards or scholarships was formed. Each application was photocopied for the committee so they could review each application without knowledge of the applicant’s identity: names, e-mails, phone numbers, and any references were blacked out.
The PMAE committee members knew the applicants only by number. Nora, Courtney, EBIDS Board members and Pat were unaware of the winners names until the presentation ceremony at the Ceili. Christina (EBIDS Chair) only found out last week in order to prepare for the presentations.
Christina says "Special
thanks to Carrie P, NPIDA Office Manager in North Vancouver, without whom
the coordination of this work would not have been possible. Special thanks also to board member Kelly S who was my partner on
this project".
