Clara Shipp is senior all round student at Clearwater Secondary School.
The Grade 12 student received the award plus the $500 Fred Allan Memorial Bursary from teacher Mike Lau during awards night at the school on Tuesday evening.
Lau recalled that he had first met the award winner several years earlier when, “... she was the kid three rows back who wouldn’t stop talking.”
Shipp also won the award for having the highest academic achievement in Grade 12 and the Bert Lambert Senior French Award. She shared with John Topolovec the Daryl Pipev Memorial Award for being the school’s outstanding athlete of the year.
The multi-talented young woman was one of just six students to have been on the Honor Roll for all five years they were at CSS.
Another big winner among the Grade 12 students was Oliver Talbot. He won the award for highest achievement in practical and fine arts for Grade 12, the Senior Science award, the Senior Mathematics award and the Senior Music award. Talbot was one of seven students on the four-year Honor Roll.
An emotional moment came when Linda King presented the Joan Unterschultz Memorial community service award for the first time on behalf of the Vavenby Reunion Committee. Unterschultz, a longtime Vavenby resident, passed away recently. King, who was secretary at Vavenby Elementary School for many years, presented the award to a former Vavenby student, Heather Graffunder.
Another emotional moment came when student Adam VanderZwan called up all the band students at the ceremony to present a giant thank-you card to band teacher Bruce Whitelaw.
“He has pushed us to be only our best,” said VanderZwan. “You introduced many of us to music in Grade 5 and you stuck with us since then.”
Whitelaw, who has no formal music training but who nevertheless has taken local school bands to win multiple provincial and national awards, was modest in his reply.
“I’m going to retire, but not soon,” he promised.