The News:
[Vancouver, BC] On October 19th, recipients of the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation’s (BCHF) 2015 Our Future Leaders Scholarships attended the CONNECT Food + Drink + Lodging show Trends Breakfast, 15 outstanding students were presented their scholarships in front of a sold out crowd of senior industry professionals.
This year’s scholarship recipients demonstrated outstanding academic and leadership skills. Each Our Future Leaders Scholarship has a value of $1,500.00 for students to use towards further education.
Richard Carras, BCHF chair, was joined by Amrit Sandhu (Delta Hotels & Resorts), Caroline Schein (Boston Pizza), Ian Tostenson (BC Restaurants and Foodservices Association), and Paul Volk (White Spot) to present scholarship awards to the following recipients:
- Hannah Thomas-Hofmann, Camosun College – Supported by Silverbirch Hotels & Resorts
- Natalia Parga, Canadian Tourism College
- Sebastian Kenzle, Douglas College – Supported by Delta Hotels & Resorts
- Kristen Adams, Eton College
- Olena Simonova, North Island College
- Maik Uhlmann, Okanagan College – Supported by the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association
- Kiraya Spencer, Royal Roads University – Supported by Boston Pizza
- Rachell Hamm, Selkirk College – The Richard Gibbons Scholarship, supported by the BC Hotel Association
- Meaghan Blakely, Thompson Rivers University
- Allie Acker, University of the Fraser Valley – The George Tidball Scholarship, supported by the BC Restaurant & Food Services Association
- Gwendoline Prudhomme, Vancouver Community College – Lothar Heinrich Scholarship, supported by the BC Hotel Association
- Shane Strom, Vancouver Island University – The Peter Toigo Sr. Scholarship, supported by White Spot
Three culinary scholarship recipients, selected by the Chefs’ Table Society of BC (CTS) scholarship committee, were presented by Danny Markowicz, CTS scholarship committee chair, Rob Cinkat (Sysco Vancouver) and Murray Penner (Gordon Food Service):
- Mary Wan, Art Institute of Vancouver – Supported by Sysco Vancouver
- Brittany Louie, Johnston Heights Secondary – Supported by Sysco Vancouver
- Shawna James, Vancouver Island University – Supported by GFS
A special thank you to LinkBC and The Chefs’ Table Society of BC for facilitating the scholarship process.
View a photo gallery of the scholarship presentation HERE, courtesy of Charles Zuckermann.
“The BCHF is proud to support the Hospitality Industry’s Future Leaders through its scholarship programme. The opportunity to meet the stars of tomorrow is inspiring. The awards presentation provides them with the recognition and encouragement they deserve.” -Alan Sacks, BCHF executive director