Williams Lake resident Amy Penny was recently awarded one of four scholarships from the 2012 DB Perks/Lifesaving Society fund.
Penny was viewed by the scholarship committee as the top applicant in the province for this award. Applicants must be a lifeguard/instructor within B.C. and show exceptional volunteer and community involvement. Penny has been a part-time lifeguard/instructor at the Sam Ketcham Memorial Pool in Williams Lake for the past two years and a swim club member for more than 11 years.
She is currently president of her student council at Williams Lake Secondary School and a volunteer swim coach for the local child development centre for which she was awarded a Youth Leadership Award from the local United Way. Penny will graduate from WLSS this June and is looking forward to her first year of post-secondary work at the local campus of Thompson Rivers University.
Other 2012 scholarship recipients were Noel Lai of Vancouver, Sasha Maleki of Coquitlam and David Slade of Delta. Doug Perks of Commercial Aquatic Supplies initiated the scholarship funding through the Lifesaving Society in 1995 and in 18 years has provided $28,000 to 56 recipients. Perks was a lifeguard in the City of Burnaby and a high level competitive swimmer at SFU in the 1960s and is compelled to give back to those currently working through their school years. He contributes generously to many organizations such as Swim BC, Dive BC, SFU and Langara College.
More information is available at commercialaquaticsupplies.com.
The Lifesaving Society (also known as Royal Life Saving Society) is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to reduce water-related death and injury.
The society has been educating the public and training lifesavers and lifeguards in B.C. since 1911 and is proud to be the 2011 recipient of the Lieutenant Governor’s award for exceptional contribution to public safety in B.C.