[music plays throughout]
[woman 1] I nominated my 12th grade creative writing teacher Miss Sebastian.
She was such a inspiring teacher.
[woman 2] I saw a few posters posted around Humber
and I in- instantly thought of Mr. Montgomery.
[woman 3] The main reason why I wanted to nominate Mrs. Castron
is because she is a remarkable woman.
[Heather Sebastian] Candace was in my Writer's Craft class.
And I just remember her being just really bright,
really genuine, really strong.
You know, you never would know just by looking at her
what she was going through that year.
[Doug Case] It was really nice to hear
that Miss Sebastian was being recognized for her efforts.
I think we've had a lot of kids who have been lucky to have her.
When they have those 75 minutes a day,
there's a lot of chance for the teachers who-
to make an impact on kids, and, you know, obviously,
it just proves that, you know, that Heather made those personal connections.
[Candace Crook] She was, like, constant, like, positive reinforcement.
That it's like okay where I was,
and, you know, how to kinda deal with the feelings that I had,
and the emotions I had.
[Laurie Castron] I was Catherine's guidance counsellor.
I registered her when she moved
from Alberta to Ontario, and she was in Grade 11.
I remembered moving to Sudbury when I was in Grade 11,
so I- my heart went out to her, knowing it's, it's a big transition.
[Bernie Smith] Laurie had a, a great reputation here
of being a strong advocate for students and teachers.
It's good to have people like Laurie
helping, um, with the moral conscience of a school as well.
[Catherine Cameron] She made me believe in myself,
and she made me really not stop until I found that passion in a job.
And I'm lucky to say, today, that I definitely have.
This is what I love to do, and I will do it forever.
And for me, what she brought to my life,
I will spend my entire life working to be able to do that for someone else.
[Roxanne Williams] I grew up at Children's Aid.
And when you're in Children's Aid, usually you're in a sectioned class.
So Children's Aid puts all of the s- the kids
in the same class outside of the regular school.
We would come to school and we would just not wanna be there.
We'd just be going through our own problems,
and we would take it out on him, and he would take it.
He was like a human punching bag and he never got mad.
Like, he would walk away, he'd have to take a breather sometimes,
but he never got mad.
I don't know how.
No, honestly, like, I was, I was not nice sometimes,
and he was always like "tomorrow's a new day."
Like, he would come and we'd be normal.
I- we really appreciated him.
A lot of the kids that I still talk to, they, um, they...
[sighs].
[Candace] And I really didn't know that Miss Sebastian
would be able to pick a student to give, you know, a tuition award to.
I'm really glad that I took the time to write about this
'cause I think she'd pick a great student.
[Roxanne] The fact that somebody gets a scholarship is really good
because I think that he's gonna pick somebody, like,
that's in one of those classes that really can benefit from it
because they're not gonna have the financial support
that maybe others might have.
[Candace] Mrs. Sebastian's genuine care for her students
and ability to bring out the best in people
continues to inspire me as I now approach
post-secondary graduation.
Keswick High School is a better place because of her.
[Roxanne] I stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves
because Mr. Montgomery once did that for me
and showed me the importance of helping others.
I volunteer at group homes in my area because Mr. Montgomery showed me
that it takes a village to raise a child.
[Catherine] Mrs. Castron was the type of person
that would help anyone no matter what.
She would take time to make sure
the start of a new school year was going smoothly,
and if I had any questions, she would be there to help.
[Candace] Miss Sebastian, I would really like to thank you
for being such an inspirational teacher and just a huge part of my life.
Um, I think about the lessons you taught me every day,
and I'm so glad that we can celebrate this award together.
[Roxanne] Mr. Montgomery, thank you so much
for everything you did for me and so many other youth in care.
We really appreciate it.
[Catherine] Mrs. Castron, you made the biggest difference in my life,
and I can truly say that I would not be where I am today
if it wasn't for you.
[music fades out]