By Cecilia Nasmith

For Northumberland Hills Hospital Board Chair Pam Went, the meeting where they award the Health Professions Scholarships each year is her favourite meeting.

That happened this week, as two Grade 12 students – from Port Hope and from Cobourg – were announced as the 2021 winners.

In other times, the successful students would attend that board meeting along with proud parents, and pose for a photo shoot in the halls of NHH. This year, the presentation was virtual but – for Lillie Donovan and Tovan Lew – it was an exciting occasion nevertheless.

Vice-President of Human Resources and Quality Elizabeth Vosburgh gave some of the history of the award, which originated in 2004 to recognize local graduating students planning to go into the health-care professions – not only to help them in their post-secondary studies but also in hopes of welcoming them back to NHH as professional practitioners.

In addition to being enrolled or accepted for enrollment in a full-time study program, applicants are evaluated on a combination of criteria, including academic achievements, extracurricular activities, written references and a testimonial letter they compose on their own explaining their career goals.

“They are both smart, very hard working, empathetic and, in a year with so many distractions, they are focused on their goals,” Went said of this year's winners, who will each receive a $1,000 scholarship.

Port Hope resident Lillie Donovan is completing her final year at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School this month and looking forward to pursuing post-secondary studies in Canada’s capital city this fall as an Honours Bachelor of Science student in Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa.

Her interest in a career in an allied health profession like physiotherapy or occupational therapy is well matched with her past experience and future course of study.

A Life Action Camp volunteer at her school with more than 660 hours accumulated, Lillie was also recognized by St. Mary’s as the Highest Academic Achiever (2018 and 2020), and Junior Female Athlete of the Year (2018 and 2019). A Link Leader for 2019-20, she received multiple Coach’s Awards for a range of pre-pandemic sports activities, including swimming (2017-18), track and field (2018-19), basketball (2018-19) and wrestling (2019-20).

Lillie’s strength as a swimmer and coach was described with high praise by Trish MacNeil, Head Coach for Northumberland Aquatic Club, in a letter of reference which described her as “an incredible person, smart, kind, talented and very welcoming.”

“As a swimmer, Lillie was exceptional,” Ms MacNeil noted.

“She brought that same energy and drive to her coaching. Lillie responds…promptly to any situation she encounters with a positive and accepting attitude. It is sometimes very difficult for high-level athletes to transition their skills to the coaching side, but Lillie did that flawlessly.”

Lillie’s positive attitude and self-motivation were also highlighted by the Director of Culinary Services at Trinity College School, where Lillie has worked part-time while completing her high school studies. Extracurricular activities, work and the trials of a global pandemic have not distracted Lillie, who completed Grade 11 with a final GPA of 97.4%. And at the time her application was submitted, she was on track to complete Grade 12 with an overall average in the low- to mid-nineties.

Cobourg resident Tovan Lew is not only completing Grade 12 at Cobourg Collegiate Institute, he has also completed the requirements for International Baccalaureate certificates in mathematics, biology, chemistry, French and English. At the time of his scholarship application, he had received early acceptance to Trent, UOIT (now Ontario Tech University) and Ryerson, and was awaiting responses from several others before making a final decision. Tovan’s field of undergraduate study is expected to be Biomedical and Life Sciences. As a first step in his ultimate goal of attending a Canadian medical school.

Tovan’s extracurricular activities were strongly endorsed by Suzanne Kerr, Lead Teacher-Special Education and Co-Staff Advisor to the CCI Interact Club, a student-driven branch of Rotary International.

“Tovan has made outstanding contributions to our club,” she noted, serving as an Executive Member, as a leader and role model in all club events.

Two initiatives Tovan was particularly influential in running at CCI were the Community Dinner (the last one of which was completed in March 2020) and the fall food drive, Halloween for Hunger. Tovan played a role in all aspects of this involved undertaking, including the transition from the usual door-to-door style collection to a school-based drive.

Described by his teachers as a dependable, responsible change maker with a dedicated work ethic and innovative and empathetic heart, Tovan has volunteered extensively at CCI throughout his high school years, most recently serving as the chief editor for the school yearbook (no easy feat with a school year deprived of many clubs and teams) while holding down a part-time job and maintaining his place annually on the CCI honour roll with a final average currently tracking at 96%.

Thanking the board, Tovan revealed that he had accepted the offer of admission from Trent University - “in biomedical science, for which I am very excited.”

“Your hard work and commitment to excellence is inspiring,” Went said to the two winners.

“It's been an exceptionally challenging 16 months, and it's remarkable to see what these young adults have achieved in spite of these hurdles.”