York is U ends the year by celebrating its members

York is U marked its eighth pinning ceremony and the end of another successful year for the organization on April 4. The End of Year Pinning Ceremony was a celebration of the 2006-2007 membership, for all of their hard work and dedication throughout the year.

This past year York is U successfully hosted campus-wide events to help students enjoy their time at York, including the Terry Fox Run @ York, Multicultural Week, York’s Birthday, Stress Buster Carnival, Halloween Bash, Cricket Challenges, Mega Environmental Awareness Week and bi-weekly Movie Nights. The pinning ceremony honoured more than 100 dedicated volunteers for their hard work. The ceremony included congratulatory words from University administrators as well as dinner, dancing and jazz entertainment.

Presenting one-, two- three- and four-year membership pins, volunteer recognition certificates and awards were Kevin Wilson, executive officer for VP Students, Sylvia Schippke, assistant vice-president of student community development, and Frank Cappadocia, director of student community & leadership development.

Fourth-year student Mona Matin received the Volunteer of the Year award for contributing more than 400 hours to the group.

“I am so pleased at how it all turned out,” said Michelle Wong Ken, York is U membership director and a fourth-year environmental studies major, who organized the evening with help from volunteers. “We took a lot of risks and tried many new things and the members loved it. The event did just as it was intended to do – recognize the members, celebrate our achievements and bring smiles across everyone’s faces. For someone like me who is graduating this year, it was a bitter-sweet yet very appropriate moment that I will cherish forever.”

Jackie Law, a fourth-year economics student, was overjoyed with the recognition she received at the event. “The Pinning Ceremony was awesome,” said Law. “I loved it so much! Time passes too fast…I can say that the past six months with York is U were my happiest time at York University. All these memories will be saved in my heart forever.”

For more information on York is U visit their Web site at www.yorku.ca/yorkisu.

This article was submitted to YFile by Haider Nawab, York is U’s community outreach director.