Youth Appreciation Week Events Encourage Positive Contributions

The Coquitlam Optimist Club’s annual Youth Appreciation Week event on November 11 raised over $7000 for youth groups and netted 425 lb. of food for Share’s Food Bank. The Youth Appreciation Week celebration consists of two events, the Walk for Youth and the Free Skate. Ten organizations, ranging from sports to arts to community service groups, participated in the Walk for Youth. Each group raised from a few hundred dollars to over $1700 to support their activities. For the Free Skate the Optimist Club rented the skating rink at Coqutlam’s new Poirier Sports Complex and invited children from the Tri-Cities to two hours of skating at no charge. Skaters were asked to bring a donation for the Food Bank. In this way the Optimist Club encourages young people to help themselves and aid the less fortunate. At the same time Optimists recognize the positive contributions of our youth. (See more photographs of this event on the Coquitlam Optimist Club's Facebook page.)

Cheques were presented at an Optimist Club dinner meeting, where adult sponsors described the purpose and activities of their youth organizations. The Cloverdale Junior Curlers won the draw and received a grant from the Optimist Club to match the funds they had raised.

Optimist Free Skate - November 11

Come to the annual Optimist Free Skate on November 11. The event will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 PM at the Poirier Sports & Leisure Complex (Coquitlam Rec Center), 633 Poirier Street, Coquitlam, BC. Admission and skate rentals are free, but participants are encouraged to donate a non-perishable item for the Food Bank. The event is one way the Coquitlam Optimsit Club recognizes the good things that the young people of our community do.

Earn Money for Youth Groups

SPORTS TEAMS, SCHOOL GROUPS/PAC COMMITTEES, YOUTH ACTIVITY GROUPS: Do you want an easy way for your group to earn money?

Join the Optimist Walk for Youth

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS WALK 5K … and collect pledges.

We look after all the event management, signage, promotion, advance/walk day registration and refreshments. Your group takes home 75% of the money you raise. Plus we’ll hold a bonus draw and match 100% of the winning group’s pledges up to $1000.

The 25% we keep covers our costs. Any balance that remains we put back into the community through our many Optimist programs such as scholarships, essay and oratorical contests, “Opti-bears” (teddy bears for children in crisis) and support for groups like yours. Everyone benefits!

WHEN: November 11, 2010
Registration at 12 Noon
Walk begins at 1:00 PM
WHERE: Coquitlam Recreation Center

To Register phone: 604 936 3649 (Rick Todd at Grapes 4U) or Email: coquitlamoptimists@gmail.com

Optimist Club Awards 2010 Scholarships

The Coquitlam Optimist Club has presented Robert Simms Memorial Scholarships to ten 2010 graduates of Tri-Cities secondary schools. The scholarship recipients and their schools are Dora Du and Magdalena Gradowski of Dr. Charles Best, John Oh and Shima Bakhtiary of Centennial, Claudia Lee of Gleneagle, Tamana Aurom of Riverside, Katherine Liu of Heritage Woods, Germain Bralic and Michael Wilson of Port Moody and Stephanie Toth of Archbishop Carney.

The $1,000 Robert Simms Memorial Scholarship is named in honour of a long-time School District 43 educator and counsellor, who was a charter member of the Coquitlam Optimist Club. The selection of scholarship recipients is based primarily on the students’ service to their schools and the wider community. In addition, the students’ academic records must demonstrate their ability to succeed at post-secondary studies.

The 2010 scholarship recipients have chosen a wide range of post-secondary institutions. Students attending schools in the British Columbia include Tamana Aurom (University of British Columbia); Shima Bakhtiary, Germain Bralic, Magdalena Gradowski and John Oh (Simon Fraser University); Stephanie Toth (Douglas College) and Michael Wilson (University of Victoria). Students attending universities elsewhere in Canada include Katherine Liu (McMaster University), Dora Du (McGill University) and Claudia Lee (University of Ottawa).

Students attending schools in the Lower Mainland received their scholarships at a dinner hosted by the Coquitlam Optimist Club on September 8, 2010. Parents received the scholarships on behalf of out-of-town students.

The Coquitlam Optimist Club has been “Bringing Out the Best in Kids” since 1977. For more information about the club’s activities contact coquitlamoptimists@gmail.com.

Coquitlam Student Places Second in Optimist Pacific Northwest District Oratorical Contest

Selin Jessa, a student at Charles Best Senior Secondary, has won a $1500 scholarship in Optimist International’s Pacific Northwest District Oratorical Contest held in Newport, Oregon, on May 22.

Students from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, advanced through three levels of competition to reach the district finals, where Selin placed second. Noel Lai of Vancouver, BC, placed first, winning a $2500 scholarship.

Selin was sponsored by the Coquitlam Optimist Club. She won the club’s Oratorical Contest, placed second in the Fraser Valley zone contest and first in the British Columbia regional competition on her way to the district finals.

The Optimist Oratorical Contest was open to students under the age of 16 as of December 31, 2009. Each contestant presented a 4-5 minute speech on the topic “Cyber Communication: Progress or Problem?”