President’s Award honors top student leader

As the final convocation ceremony of 2010 draws near, one graduate is particularly excited. Francesco Rizzuti, a student graduating with his Bachelor of Science in cellular, molecular and microbial biology, will be receiving the President’s Award for Excellence in Student Leadership. Awarded annually to five graduating students, the award is the highest honour a graduating student can receive. The award serves to recognize students who combine excellent academic achievement with outstanding leadership on campus.

“It’s a huge honor. You never come into university thinking that you’re going to be receiving an award when you graduate,” says Rizzuti. “It means a lot to me that the university wants to award students not only for academic achievement, but also for their leadership involvement and service to the community.”

Rizzuti knew as soon as his new student orientation program ended that he wanted to get involved. For the following three years, Rizzuti served as an orientation leader and introduced new students to campus himself. He was also co-chair of the 2008 Canadian Conference on Student Leadership, co-chair of the Wellness and Health Awareness Team (WHAT), a co-curricular record ambassador and an Emerging Leaders Program peer helper. In addition, Rizzuti was involved with several faculty clubs, including the Biology Students’ Association.

Now a graduate student in the Faculty of Education, Rizzuti continues to be involved on campus. His area of study is medical communication—specifically, the patient-physician paradigm in the adolescent and young adult population. He hopes to examine how clinics can use other mediums of communication, such as social media and other online tools.

To future and current students, Rizzuti has some advice—try new things.

“My personal motto is that learning doesn’t end at the threshold of the classroom. We never know when we begin university what our interests will be, so get out there and try new things. You’ll really be able to see where your niche is and see how much fun it is to get involved outside of the classroom.”