Brodie is the recipient for 2015-2016 of the OVPS Emerging Leader Award
Being from a small town of Welland, Ontario, I was raised on the belief that community involvement was key. All throughout my years of playing junior hockey I would always try and do whatever I could to give back to the communities that I was apart of. In my first year here at Ryerson, my goal was to get involved in the community and start making lasting impressions on the people around me during my time here. I feel that being nominated and winning this award is just the start of that.
I have loved being involved in the Ryerson community already, even after just 8 short months. For myself, the biggest thing that I have been involved in this year is the Rising Rams program. I have loved spending time going to these schools and being able to teach these young kids some valuable life lessons. I remember being the kid in their shoes at one point, so it is always nice for myself to now be able to be someone for these kids to look up to.
I think that it is very important for all students to get out and try and get involved in the community around them. I believe it is important because the school and the community around us is giving us every opportunity for better experiences while at school, and we will only be able to take as much away from it as we put in ourselves.
It is always nice to be acknowledged for the hard work that you put into something and that’s what this award has done for me. It is a huge honour to have won this award and I am thankful that I have great people around my supporting me and nominating me for this award.
Although I am very proud to have been selected to win this award, it was not what I had set out to do. As cliché as it may sound, the real award for myself in all of this is being able to leave a positive impact on the people around me in the Ryerson community. That goes much further, in my mind, than any nomination or award I may win.
