During the 2015-16 school year, Courtney Connor was a Grade 12 student at Maple Ridge Secondary. She has always had an immense interest in sports and leadership. While playing different sports for many years as a child, she became interested in volleyball. She soon became passionate about it, and has played competitively in and out of school.
In her Grade 11 year, she also decided pursue track and field. Although she initially found it difficult, running quickly became addictive. Other athletic pursuits have included soccer, synchronized swimming, cross-country and basketball. When not involved in sports, she loves volunteering in her school and community.
In addition to being the president of the DSAC, she was a Link Crew leader at MRSS. Link Crew Leaders are selected to introduce the incoming Grade 8s to high school through small and large group mentoring. Courtney also works with pre-teens at her church, where she leads a weekly group and helps out on Sunday mornings. Some of her best memories have come during her three years as a camp counsellor.
Courtney’s biggest commitment to serving others has been through her involvement with the District Student Advisory Council for five years. She was president for the past two years. In this role, she ran the executive team and co-planned monthly meetings to work with Grade 5, 6 and 7 students. They design activities to encourage them to become young leaders within their schools. As a by-product of her role in DSAC, she was asked to represent the district student body on a wide variety of school district initiatives. As this spokesperson, she attended monthly DSAC meetings, round table meetings, budget meetings, and hosted the School District #42 Student Forum.
Courtney has combined her love for travel and service through many volunteering opportunities. She has been on two mission trips to Costa Rica to build a church and a house. She also spent one week in Calgary helping in an Operation Christmas Child warehouse, which packs gift boxes for Third-World countries. She loves adventuring, and being able to volunteer while seeing parts of the world has left her inspired to do more.
Throughout her high school experience, she has experienced many opportunities to give back and explore her curiosity for learning. This experience has not been without its obstacles, but she faces challenges and puts in her maximum effort. Courtney will continue to seek out leadership opportunities and sports into her university experience at Trinity Western University, where she plans to pursue a Bachelor of Science.
About Leaders of Tomorrow
The Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows School District (SD42) has teamed up with the Maple Ridge News to celebrate local students who are making a difference at school and in the community. Elementary and secondary students featured as Leaders of Tomorrow were picked by their principals for making positive achievements in academics, sports, arts and community involvement.
The list is just a sample of outstanding students in the school district selected by their school during the 2015/16 school year – there are many others who were equally deserving of recognition for their exemplary achievements both inside and outside the classroom. ?
Every Tuesday throughout the school year, SD42 will profile a student selected as one of the 2016 Leaders of Tomorrow.
