Marie Dressler Foundation Recognizes Exceptional Students

Pete Fisher
5 years ago
• Categories: Community, Editor Choice

Congratulations to Northumberland students Ava Bogyay (St. Mary CSS), Juliette Sinnott (St. Mary CSS) and Olivia Rapsos (Campbellford District HS), who are recipients of “2019 Student Bursary Awards” and to Andrew Atanasoff (Cobourg Collegiate Institute) who is the recipient of the “2019 Bill Patchett Devotion to Community Award”.

The Awards, each in the amount of $1,000.00 recognize excellence in academic achievement, personal achievement and volunteer contributions to the community were handed out on Saturday, July 6, 2019 at Marie Dressler House in Cobourg.

The “Bill Patchett Devotion to Community Award” recognizes one of the bursary winners who additionally has exhibited exceptional contributions to the community.

Marie Dressler Foundation, a registered charity, has been awarding student bursaries for over 25 years to assist graduating students from across Northumberland County who are accepted for enrollment in full-time studies in performing and visual arts programs.

“The bursaries are made possible through the generosity of our volunteers, sponsors, donors and patrons of the annual Vintage Film Festival, and our other fund-raising events” said Rick Miller, President and Chair of Marie Dressler Foundation.

Biography for: Andrew Atanasoff

Andrew Atanasoff is the recipient of the “2019 Bill Patchett Devotion to Community Award.”
Andrew has been an integral member of Cobourg Collegiate Institute’s INTERACT club for several years. He has helped raise many thousands of pounds of food for the local food bank every Hallowe’en; he has participated in the planning and running of the annual community holiday dinner; through INTERACT, he has also helped to raise much needed funds for countless organizations: the Salvation Army, Cornerstone, the WE Foundation, Sleeping Children Around the World and the Journey of Hope with CCI’s sister school in Tanzania. This year Andrew is the co-president of the INTERACT club. Bill Patchett would be very proud of this young man.
Andrew is not only passionate about helping others, he is driven to excel in academics. Andrew has enjoyed being involved in the arts and has taken dance, vocal, photography and art classes. Throughout his secondary school career, Andrew has achieved an impressive 88% overall average. According to many CCI teachers, Andrew shows maturity beyond his years and can always be counted on to support his peers. Andrew will undoubtedly get involved at his next school which will be York University for Fine Arts and Concurrent Education.

Biography for: Ava Bogyay
Ava Bogyay is the recipient of a “2019 Student Bursary Award.”
Ava is passionate about music and musical theatre. This fall, she will be studying music and secondary education at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Ava has been involved with community theatre for many years while she was in elementary school. At the secondary level, Ava played a major role in many theatre productions at St Mary Catholic Secondary School. This year, she had the lead role in the school’s production of Beauty and the Beast. Ava has also been an important part of the choral community in Northumberland. She has been fortunate enough to compete in many high level choir festivals such as MusicFest Canada in Montreal and Ottawa and the Festival of Gold in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Nashville.

Regardless of the demanding hours of the theatre, choral work, private voice lesson and preparation for Royal Conservatory Exams, Ava has maintained a high academic grade point average of 90.5%

Biography for: Olivia Rapos
Olivia Rapos is the recipient of a “2019 Student Bursary Award.”
Olivia has been an outstanding member of the Campbellford District High School community for the past four years. Academically, she has excelled and been an honour student each year attaining an overall average of 89%. She has also received an award for the highest proficiency mark in the Senior Jazz Ensemble. While doing extremely well in her studies, Olivia also put time and effort into helping her fellow students. She was her school’s Student Council Prime Minister; she sat on the Youth Advisory Committee and the Student Athletics Council to name a few.
Music and theatre are certainly main focuses of Olivia. Over the past four years, she has been involved in a variety of arts groups and projects including but not limited to, Warkworth Arts and Heritage, Northumberland Orchestra, Brighton All-Star Band, Westben Festival Arts Theatre and several Church groups.

Olivia will be continuing her education at the University of British Columbia where she will study Music with a focus on opera.

Biography for: Juliette Sinnott
Juliette Sinnott is the recipient of a “2019 Student Bursary Award.”
Juliette has extremely diverse passions. She loves science, math and music. In the fall, she will be attending McGill University for a Combined Bachelor of Music and Science degree.
During her four years at St Mary Catholic Secondary School, Juliette has been involved with multiple choirs as well as theatre productions. This year, she is playing the role of Babette in the musical, Beauty and the Beast. Juliette is also a member of the St. Mary’s Jazz Band.
Juliette is also quite skilled at playing the harp. She displays this love and talent at many retirement homes, Northumberland Hills Hospital and of course, at school.
There is no doubt that Juliette has the right attitude for a team environment as she has demonstrated a positive attitude towards her learning and experiences. She is a mature student and she has excelled in her academic pursuits, attaining an overall average of 95.5%.