The following article was submitted by Virginia Corner, communications manager in Osgoode’s Office of Advancement. Many of the best and brightest undergraduate and graduate students at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School gathered on Oct. 14 to celebrate their good fortune in receiving scholarships and awards and to thank the scholarship donors for their generosity. "It’s a great accomplishment and I know you will go on to greater accomplishment and all of us will be so much the better for it," said York University President and Vice-Chancellor Lorna R. Marsden to the 150 scholarship and award winners and donors who attended the law school’s annual Dean’s scholarship reception at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre.
Right: Dean Patrick Monahan (foreground) is flanked by award recipients (from left) Carla Lubell, Peter Kolla, Jason MacIntosh, Sherry Wilcox, Megan Cole and Jessica Caplan
Three former deans, including Professor Emeritus Peter Hogg, who started the reception during his term from 1998 to 2003, and Professors John McCamus and Marilyn Pilkington also attended.
Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan, who served as master of ceremonies, paid tribute to the scholarship and award recipients – and all Osgoode students – saying that everywhere he goes people tell him that Osgoode students are outstanding because of their diversity and the different kinds of experiences that they have had.
Monahan went on to say that what is needed to succeed today is "not only book learning but the ability to deal with people because the law is a people business."
According to Penny Spence, Osgoode's director of student financial services, upwards of $2 million in awards was distributed to Osgoode students for the 2003-2004 academic year. The reception honored 154 first- and upper-year Osgoode students who received recent scholarship and award funding ranging from $1,000 to $8,324. Osgoode's largest scholarships are renewable over three years and provide students with an important and continuous source of funding while at law school.
Osgoode LLB student Shalomi Abraham, recipient of the Goodmans LLP Award, spoke on behalf of the undergraduate students in thanking the scholarship and award donors for their help. He noted that he knows several Osgoode students who, "had it not been for all the financial assistance available to them, would not have come to Osgoode."
Osgoode PhD student Ron Levy was equally magnanimous in his thanks to the scholarship donors. "Scholarships obviously alleviate some of the economic burden of life as a grad student, but they’re also important as statements of recognition: they tell us that someone besides ourselves truly believes in our pretensions of making useful contributions to thinking about law," Levy said.
However, what is truly commendable about student scholarships is "the commitment they represent to reflection," he told the donors. "I believe that you do a great service to the law and to the public good by making time for sober, careful thought possible."