TEEN BEAUTY
Miss Teenage Coquitlam 2015 Melissa Delmonico will be in Toronto next month to vie for the national crown. Delmonico, a Grade 12 student at Dr. Charles Best secondary in Coquitlam, will be competing for the title between Aug. 2 and 10. A longtime student of the Encore Dance Academy in Port Coquitlam, Delmonico is no stranger to contests having taken part in ballet, jazz and acrobatic competitions over the years. Her platform is to raise awareness about mental health issues and to convince the provincial government to supply more psychiatric beds in the Fraser Health region. Last year, she volunteered for I STAND for Youth Mental Health, which is sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association.
GRAD HELP
A student graduating committee at a Port Coquitlam high school gave a parting gift to the Share food bank last month: A cheque for $1,000. Riverside secondary school’s G15 recently handed over the cash to Jake Moir, the agency’s fund development officer.
CROSSROADS CASH
A Port Moody hospice got a boost of last month thanks to two organizations. The RBC Coquitlam Town Centre branch handed over $1,000 to Crossroads Hospice Society from the employees’ Day of Service program. As well, a $1,500 donation from the Royal Canadian Legion branch 148 in North Burnaby came through for Crossroads — money that was collected from its poppy fund. The contribution was in memory of two former members (Brian Simpson and Robert Wilks) who spent their finals days at Crossroads.
GONE TO SHAD
A total of 14 Tri-City high school students are off to a national science, technology, engineering and math program. Their month-long SHAD program starts Sunday. Those accepted are: Parth Vakil (Riverside); Jane Lee (Heritage Woods); Chia Hua “Emily” Yang (Dr. Charles Best); Daniel Chen (Port Moody); Jamal Chu (Dr. Charles Best); Sabrina Chu (Dr. Charles Best); Owen Guo (Gleneagle); Emma Juergensen (Gleneagle); Jessica Liang (Port Moody); Chenyu “Eric” Liu (Gleneagle); Galen Wang (Gleneagle); Xiran “Dian” Wang (Dr. Charles Best); Tiffany Yep (Port Moody); and Yilin Zhang (Gleneagle).
NEW VEEP
Douglas College, which has a campus in Coquitlam, has named a new vice president. Thor Borgford's new title is v-p academic and provost, meaning he will be responsible for the college’s educational programs and the partnerships that support those programs, as well as faculty development and research. Borgford joined the college in 2009 as dean of the faculty of science and technology. Four years later, he became the first executive director of research and academic administration. And for the past year, he has been serving as interim v-p academic and provost. Borgford has a PhD in microbiology from the University of Manitoba and has held post-doctoral research positions at Imperial College of Science and Technology in the U.K. and at the University of Alberta. "I’m very excited to move into this new position at Douglas College," he said in a news release. "It is a wonderful time to be involved with the college and I look forward to contributing to continued growth and innovation at the institution."
