Catherine Denis, a 3rd year engineering student in Systems Design at University of Waterloo, is the 2006 recipient of the Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education “Leaders for the Future” award. The award was presented by Ken McMartin, Past President, PEO, during the EWB Annual Meeting in Ottawa.

The Ontario Professional Engineers Foundation for Education has partnered with Engineers Without Borders in initiating the “Leaders for the Future” scholarship program. The program, aims to recognize outstanding leadership of Ontario engineering students who have been selected as overseas volunteers with EWB. In recognizing and awarding engineering students like Catherine, the Foundation for Education is helping to promote both the values of the profession while encouraging students across Ontario to use their skills to help reduce poverty throughout the developing world. “Volunteerism is an important quality in being a professional” according to Stephen Jack, Foundation President, who hopes that “ these future leaders will inspire professionals and students alike to consider their role and potential contributions as western engineers to the reduction of poverty and its symptoms worldwide.” The goal of the award is to encourage engineering students to act as leaders within their communities, on their campuses, and within the engineering profession that they will soon be entering.