Supporting students to bring peace of mind

By Alex Demedeiros

Senn Gelinas is in her second year of the Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre program. In 2022, she received two awards supported by Sheridan donors: the Jonah MacIntosh Memorial Award and the Highest Achievement in Acting Performance Award in honour of Larry Goldhar. Receiving just one award would have been a big surprise for Gelinas, but two was even more remarkable. She says they will go a long way in helping her continue her education.

“Honestly, I was quite shocked at first,” Gelinas says of first learning she’d received the awards. “I knew about one of the awards. I had been planning the awards ceremony event because they asked for volunteers, and I accidentally saw my name on the chart we used to keep track of the award winners. I didn’t know about the other though. I was surprised that I won both!”

Gelinas recognizes the importance of awards like the ones she received, and she is grateful donors are there to support students who might need financial support to pay for school. Being in the music theatre program, Gelinas has had to work hard to stay on top of her 12-hour school days, homework, and part-time job. In fact, her attention is already focused on saving up enough money to pay for her fourth-year fees and receiving these awards has helped provide her with some peace of mind.

“This money is just going to help a lot in terms of relief … and putting me closer towards graduating, because that’s super important to me.”

“This money is just going to help a lot in terms of relief and taking a bit of weight off my shoulders and putting me closer towards graduating, because that’s super important to me,” she says.

Gelinas says she is proud of her accomplishments and appreciative of the donors who believed in her success.

“I feel appreciated and recognized for my hard work. It’s a reward that keeps me motivated because, especially over the course of a school year, one can lose steam and lose faith in the support systems that are available,” she says. “I feel like this has reinstated my faith and has given me courage and excitement to keep going because there are people who will recognize and appreciate the work that I do on a greater scale.”

Alex Demedeiros is a journalism student at Sheridan.