Horatio Alger Award

In April of 2012, I was awarded the prestigious Horatio Alger Award (Unfortunately there was no official awards ceremony, back then the organization was mostly based in the States). The endowment comes from the Horatio Alger Association of Canada, a non-profit organization that gives out scholarships to high-achieving students. Supporters include hockey player Wayne Gretzky, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Toronto Mayor John Tory and former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

There have been many wonderful events I have been able to go to because of the Horatio Alger Awards. The first was a concert with Horatio Alger International Ambassador George Perris (October 2012), a very talented singer, who sings in French, English and Greek. I was the guest of honour and spoke to the audience beforehand. It was an amazing time and I was so happy I was able to attend! The concert was by Perris who was doing a fundraiser for the Horatio Alger Scholarships throughout Canada. 

When I met George, he was so kind. He not only gave me a signed copy of his DVD, but he also dedicated a song to me. He left me with this advice when I went to see him back stage. Whenever I run into a door, “do not open it, KICK it open!” Those words stay with me today.

After my speech, Member of Parliament Stephane Dion came up behind me and said he “Really admired me.” It was definitely a night to to remember.

The second and most recent event (May 2015) was at the Toronto Stock Exchange building where I was invited to the press conference for the national launch of the Horatio Alger Canadian Scholarship Program. There I had the pleasure to meet with former astronaut Chris Hadfield (he took a bunch of selfies with me), speak to him a bit about his diet and exercise regime and general just fan-girl about how cool he is. 

How awesome is this right? He actually took the phone out of my hands to ask for this photo.

 I also had the pleasure of meeting former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney who spoke to me a bit about our current political landscape as well as the French school I had gone to previously! We spoke in French for a while and we even signed off with the french double kiss.

 Nice normal shot with him.