CREDIT: KERRA SEAY
The Centre for Academic Excellence awarded Fanshawe student Christina O'Neill with a $500 flex card.

An ordinary day for Christina O’Neill was made extraordinary by Fanshawe’s president Peter Devlin when he handed her a $500 flex card.

“I have an exam and [I was stressed because] today was so tightly packed and when [Devlin] gave me [the money] I was surprised,” O’Neill said. “I was not expecting it at all, it definitively made my day a little better; I am really excited.”

The Centre for Academic Excellence brought about the initiative after they were awarded the President’s Distinguished Team award during the President’s Breakfast back in September of 2015.

With this award, the Centre was given a cash prize.

“We received some money that needs to be used to directly or indirectly benefit students in the college and we had to determine how we wanted to do that,” said Patti Kaye, the co-ordinator for the Centre of Academic Excellence.

“We work behind the scenes because we do curriculum; we work mainly with faculty and administrators, we don’t get to see the students directly,” Kaye said.

The Centre for Acamedic Excellence works with all the faculties and facilitates program reviews, program developments and e-learning for faculties, all work for the students, but not directly with them. According to Kaye, the Centre wanted to take this opportunity to directly engage with the students.

And what better way to engage the students then handing out the money directly to them?

“We are literally divvying up this money, we are going to every single campus, eight of them all in, to distribute flex cards in varying amounts from $10 to $500 straight to the students to say thank you for coming to Fanshawe, thank you for your energy,” Kaye said.

March 14 kicked off the initiative with the help of president Devlin.

“We told him to look for someone who embodies the Fanshawe promise: excitement, empowerment, engagement and educate, those four Es, he is looking for someone who is embodying that.”

And with those instructions, Devlin chose O’Neill, a first-year Pre-Health Level 2 student and a varsity volleyball player.

“It was my job to pick a student who was filled with pride, with excitement, with enthusiasm about learning and about being at Fanshawe,” Devlin said. “Christina, when I asked her how her day was, she said awesome even though she has a test [today].”

And with that excitement for learning and the way O’Neill has gotten involved with the school, Devlin felt like she perfectly embodied the Fanshawe promise.

“If someone is wanting to come to Fanshawe [they should] definitively get involved in everything they can and get the most of the experience they can,” O’Neill said. “Going here pays off, [it’s] awesome.”

Devlin reciprocated O’Neill’s view and applauded the Centre for Academic Excellence on this initiative.

“I commend the Centre for selecting this type of recognition, it certainly demonstrates their focus because they are totally centred on students and developing programs that are relevant and allow students to fulfill their dreams.”