Black Jack skier Remi Drolet was awarded the Governor General’s Bronze Medal for Academic Excellence last Monday at the Seven Summits Centre for Learning in Rossland.
Remi was selected among all North Island Distance Education (Navigate) students across B.C.
The Governor General’s Award goes to the student with the highest academic average over Grades 10, 11 and 12, and is presented in the fall because all provincial exam results are included in the calculation.
Because the selection is based on percentages alone, the decision on the worthy recipient is not arbitrary. Winners often have a combined aggregate average of 95 per cent over their final three years of school, and some schools will not present the award in a given year where no student achieved a significantly high standard.
Drolet was the easy and obvious choice as this year’s recipient. His combined academic average was 98.8 per cent over Grades 10, 11 and 12. This was no accident, as his parents Edouard Drolet and Nathalie Levasseur will attest, Remi has always been a conscientious learner. Edouard says, “Remi would do hours and hours of homework,” without any cajoling from parents. He suspects that Remi’s commitment to excellence in cross-country skiing has spilled over to other aspects of his life.
Remi is enjoying his second year on the National Junior Ski Team, and competes across North America. His coach, Dave Wood, believes Remi excels at this sport because he is so coachable, which is something his teachers also see in him.
Remi is grateful to the teachers of the Seven Summits program for their flexibility and encouragement, allowing him to juggle skiing and schooling without letting either suffer. He is being sought by several post-secondary institutions across Canada and the U.S., but is giving serious consideration to attending Harvard to ski and to study Physics.
He hopes to continue skiing as a professional, and ultimately earn a Masters and PhD in particle or theoretical physics.
The Governor General’s Academic Medals have recognized the outstanding scholastic achievements of students in Canada for more than 125 years. The award was introduced by Lord Dufferin, Canada’s third Governor General, in 1873.