As school years were winding down, everyone was trying to come up with new ways to mark graduations and celebrate award-winners; school communities and graduates have been feeling the COVID-19 restrictions most during the weeks leading up to the end of the school year.
And that got one Vankleek Hill Collegiate Institute teacher thinking. Dan Tremblay says he had the idea in mid-May to come up with something different for the extra-curricular awards ceremonies. The usual thing is that students gather in the cafetorium and awards are presented there during an a designated evening.
But this year, Tremblay says he thought that inviting sports or other celebrities to virtually present the awards might make this year’s presentations special. The result was an astonishing 33 “celebrity” presenters, some of whom Tremblay says he knew, or had worked with. But others, he contacted using all the methods one has access to these days: messaging, phone calls, emails and social media messaging.
- Guest Speaker – CRAIG SAVILL – 2-time Brier Champion (07, 12), 2-time World Curling Champion (07, 12), Cancer Survivor (Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, 2015)
- GEORGES LARACQUE – Words of welcome (French and English)
Sports Teams:
- Jr Boys Soccer (Coached by Mr. Jared Linttell) – TREVOR WILSON
- MDP – Owen Kerr
(Bradley Horner, Ty McRae)
- MVP – Kyle Burmeister
(Damien Leduc, Montgomery Campeau)
Sr Boys Soccer (Coached by Mr. Ryan Cunning) – MARK JANKOWSKI
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- MDP – Connor Allard-Remenda
(Luke Goosen, Jorge Vazquez, Connor Allard-Remenda)
- MVP – Logan Hallahan
(Dominik Jackl Logan Hallahan, Wesley Bennett)
Sr Girls Soccer (Coached by Ms. Sarah Dagg) – GREG PROOPS
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- MDP – Meeah Gauthier
(Natalia LaRosa, Meeah Minor-Gauthier, Sierra Sauvé)
- MVP – Becky Cummings & Evy Cooley
(Becky Cummings, Evy Cooley, Emma Lightle-Blais)
Football (Coaches: Jeff Dorn, Brian Dunham) – SHELDON SOURAY
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- MDP – Connor Allard-Remenda
(Jaxson Bigus Gagnon, Ty MacRae)
- MVP – Spencer Fitzpatrick
(Tristan Parent, Liam Murphy)
- Jr Boys Basketball (Coached by Mr. Matt Williams & Mr. Warren Merrit) – DONOVAN SANTAS
- MDP – Dylan Lauzon
(Jordan Anderson, Max Freedman)
- MVP – Jeremiah Lavalley
(Liv Suppiah, Thomas Demers)
- Sr Boys Basketball (Coached by Mr. Phil Edgar & Mr. Warren Merrit) – ANDREW ALLEN
- MDP – Jorge Vazquez
(Dimitri Pelikos, Jack Freedman)
- MVP – Connor Allard- Remenda
(Zachary Gutknecht, Ryan Leclerc)
- Sr Girls Basketball (Coached by Ms. Christine Sauvé) – MICHÈLE BÉLANGER
- MDP – Mariessa Seymour-Howell
(Sierra Sauvé, Sage Cunning)
- MVP – Kaleigh Allard
(Kaitlyn Rainey, Chelsea Sauvé)
- Ultimate (Coached by Mr. Dan Tremblay) – STUNTMAN STU
- MDP – Jorge Vazquez
(Connor Allard- Remenda, Evy Cooley)
- MVP – Anoushan Mugunthan – Valerie Allard
(Ryan Leclerc, Jorge Vazquez, Valerie Allard))
- Curling (Mr. Dan Tremblay) – Natasha Fortin – 4th year, graduating player – KAITLYN LAWES
- Jr Girls Volleyball (Coached by Ms. Randi Tolhurst) – WES MCAULEY
- MDP – Sage Cunning
(Kaitlyn Rainey, Olivia St-Denis)
- MVP – Ashlie Leclerc
(Kaitlyn Rainey, Paige Simard)
- Sr Girls Volleyball (Coached by Mr. Jared Linttell) – CHAD KILGER
- MDP – Natalia LaRosa
(Evy Cooley, Marie-Pier Caron)
- MVP – Valerie Allard
(Marie-Pier Caron, Serra Gozoglu)
- Jr Boys Volleyball (Coached by Ms. Randi Tolhurst) – STEVE BARTON
- MDP – Jordan Anderson
(Sam Charlebois, Max Freedman)
- MVP – Anoushan Mugunthan
(Bradley Horner, Cody Rickerd)
- Sr Boys Volleyball (Coached by Mr. Dan Tremblay) – GERRY DEE
- MDP – Wesley Bennett
(Wesley Bennett, Justin Morris, Jorge Vazquez)
- MVP – Ryan Leclerc
(Tyler Allard, Wesley Bennett, Ryan Leclerc)
- Garett Allen Sportsmanship Award – CASSIE CAMPBELL-PASCALL
- Nominees: 1- Evy Cooley, 2- Connor Allard-Remenda, 3- Becky Cummings, 4- Wesley Bennett and 5- Marie-Pier Caron
- Winner: Wesley Bennett
- Most Promising Boy Athlete – RYAN FRY
- Nominees: 1- Jordan Anderson, 2- Max Freedman, 3- Bradley Horner, and 4- Owen Kerr
- Winner: Jordan Anderson
- Most Promising Girl Athlete – CASEY SCHEIDEGGER
- Nominees: Sage Cunning, Brier Smith, Olivia St-Denis
- Winner: Sage Cunning
- Best Academic Male Athlete – JOHN SCOTT
- Nominees: 1- Wesley Bennett, 2- Zach Gutknecht, 3- Ryan Leclerc, 4- Justin Morris, and 5- Jorge Vazquez
- Winner: Jorge Vazquez
- Best Academic Female Athlete – JAMIE SALÉ
- Nominees: 1- Marie-Pier Caron, 2- Evy Cooley, 3- Becky Cummings, 4- Emma Lightle-Blais, 5- Sierra Sauvé
- Winner: Evy Cooley
- Best Boys Athlete – THEO FLEURY
- Nominees: 1- Tyler Allard, 2- Connor Allard-Remenda, 3- Wesley Bennett, 4- Zach Gutknecht, 5- Ryan Leclerc, and 6- Jorge Vazquez
- Co-Winners: Connor Allard-Remenda and Ryan Leclerc
- Best Girls Athlete – MARIE-PHILIP POULIN
- Nominees: 1- Valerie Allard, 2- Marie-Pier Caron, 3- Evy Cooley, 4- Becky Cummings, 5- Natalia Larosa, 6- Emma Lightle-Blais, and 7-Sierra Sauvé
- Winner: Valerie Allard
Conclusion: JAYNA HEFFORD, GEORGES LARAQUE (French and English)
Other Clubs:
Interact Group: – COLIN MOCHRIE
- Charlotte Lapensée
- Charlotte Lapierre
- Bella Levitt
- Kaitlin Rainey
- Anna Kouao
- Jazmyn Alexander
- Hailey Exume
- Aaish Adnan
- Kery Nazaire
- Alex Mihalchuk
- Ella Larocque
- Uros Muhari
- Christine Peters
- Natasha Fortin
- Ashley Morris
- Alexis Laplante
- Sami Alaboudi
- Lam Khan
- Mohammed Heydarli
Music – Choir: BLUE RODEO – JIM CUDDY
Benoit, Jena 9 Flute
Cabal, Luke 11 Bass clarinet & clarinet
Cardinal, Emilie Clarinet
Davis, Kira 11 Clarinet
Devochelle, Sarah 11 Flute Outstanding Graduating student
Garrison, Jacob 12 Trombone
Harris, Chloe 10 Trumpet
Kouao,Anna 10 Alto sax Vocal Music
Martin, Liam 10 Percussion
Mihalchuk, Alex 11 Trombone
Moreau-Urie, Jarrett 9 Tenor sax
Ouellette,Alex 10 Percussion
Paquette, Emilie 9 Trombone
Simard, Paige 10 Flute
Southgate, Jude 10 Tuba
Timm-Sabourin, Makai 9 Baritone sax Instrumental Music
Torres, Xavier 11 Clarinet
Students Council – ANDREW HERR
The guest presenters were:
1- Georges Laraque – Former NHL Player
2- Gerry Dee – Comedian – Actor
3- Steve Barton – NHL Linesman
4- Wes McCauley – NHL referee
5- Donovan Santas – Strength and Conditioning coach – 20 years
6- Stuntman Stu Schwartz – Magic 100 Radio host – Cancer Survivor
7- Chad Kilger – Former NHL player
8- Mark Jankowski – Calgary Flames – Current NHL player
9- Andrew Allen – NHL goaltending coach – VCI HOF
10- Michele Bélanger – OUA Basketball Coach – 41 years at University of Toronto
11- Kaitlyn Lawes – Pro Curler – Olympic Gold medallist
12- Craig Savill – Pro Curler – Cancer Survivor
13- Ryan Fry – Pro Curler – Olympic Gold medallist
14- Casey Scheidegger – Pro Curler
15- Jamie Salé – Olympic Gold medalist – Figure Skating
16- Theo Fleury – Former NHL player – Olympic Golf medallist
17- Sheldon Sourray – Former NHL player
18- Greg Proops – Actor, Comedian – Whose Line Is It Anyway?
19- Colin Mochrie – Actor, Comedian – Whose Line Is It Anyway?
20- Marie-Philip Poulin – Olympic Gold medallist – Women’s hockey
21- Cassie Campbell-Pascall – Olympic Gold medallist – Women’s hockey
22- Jayna Hefford – Olympic Gold medallist – Women’s Hockey – One of 6 women in the NHL Hockey Hall of Fame – Conclusion
23- John Scott – Former NHL All-Star Game MVP
24- Amy Dumas aka Lita – WWE Superstar and WWE Hall of Famer
25- K.Trevor Wilson – Comedian – Letterkenny, Squirrely Dan
26- Bernie Parent – Former NHL player
27- Billy Bean – Ex-MLB, Sp Asst to the Commish MLB, representing LGBTQ+ community. First MLB gay player.
28- Andrew Herr – Actor, Letterkenny – “Jonesy”
29- Jim Cuddy – Blue Rodeo – Music Awards
30- James Hinchcliffe – Indycar driver – Encouragement message
31- Guy Larose – Boston Bruins Alumni – Congratulation message
32- Rick Middleton – Boston Bruins Alumni – Congratulation message
33- Wendel Clark – Former NHL player
Watch the video presentation here:
