Martin C. Barry
Two young student-athletes from Laval were among 86 people who received a total of $262,750 in support awarded by the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence through the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) during a gala held on Nov. 30 at the Sheraton Laval.
Two winners from Laval
More than 650 guests attended the event which brought together bursary recipients, former recipients, sponsors, donors, partners, and members of the Quebec sports community. One of the conditions for receiving the bursaries is that recipients must maintain an elevated grade points average.
Mélissa Gougeon, a medical student who plays soccer for the Carabins at the University of Montreal, received a bursary of $1,750. Another Laval resident, Brian Harelimana, a business administration student who was recruited to play football for the University of Montreal’s Carabins squadron, received a $3,000 bursary.
Honoring the best
A total of 45 bursaries totalling $147,000 were handed out to the best student-athletes graduating from Quebec CEGEPs who chose to compete in a Quebec university sport. Nine of these bursaries were for $8,000 and will be distributed over two years, $5,000 of which will come in the student-athlete’s first year.
“We are extremely proud of what our bursary recipients continue to accomplish,” said Claude Chagnon, president of the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence. “They stand out not only by their superior athletic abilities, but also by their discipline, their resolve and their commitment to academics and athletics. These are values we share at the foundation, and this is why we’ll continue to work to unite the business, sports and educational communities in order to promote the development of tomorrow’s leaders.”
The FAEQ’s five-year plan
With a new five-year plan from 2015 to 2020, the foundation’s primary goal is to increase by 35 per cent the annual amount in bursary funds and the annual number of bursary recipients. This year, $1.2 million will be distributed to more than 450 student-athletes. The foundation’s bursaries reward academic excellence, encourage the balancing of high performance sport and academics, highlight leadership, recognize perseverance and foster university recruitment.
