CHEERS: To Matt Gamblin, who has signed on to be the next head coach of the UPEI women’s basketball team. Gamblin most recently coached the Mount Allison Mounties to the 2017–2018 Atlantic Collegiate Athletics Association (ACAA) women’s basketball title. He has been a head coach for seven years, and in that time, has led teams at both the high school and college level to championships. Gamblin spent four years with the Amherst High School Vikings’ boys basketball program and led the team to a provincial championship. He signed a three-year contract with the Panthers, starting June 1. Gamblin replaces the popular and successful Greg Gould who retired last month after 48 years in coaching.
CHEERS: To the memory and legacy of Greg Waite, a longtime community leader in the Linkletter community. The municipality of Linkletter honoured him by renaming the road connecting Route 11 with Linkletter Beach Road to Greg Waite Road. Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy Minister Biggar joined residents at the ceremony last week to make Greg Waite Road part of the provincial road network. Waite passed away November 28, 2015. He was a Linkletter community council member for more than 25 years and was instrumental in the development of the Linkletter Community Center.
JEERS: To the traffic hazards around the intersection of Capital Drive, Lower Malpeque Road and North River Road in Charlottetown. The problem of motorists exiting Tim Hortons and trying to turn left are well-known. But what is just as dangerous are motorists going through the intersection heading south towards Charlottetown on North River Road and then trying to immediately turn left into the service station and McDonalds restaurant — crossing over two lanes of traffic and resulting in congestion and gridlock. Motorists should continue on Capital Drive and after going through the intersection, safely turn right into the two businesses. When that intersection was closed for two weeks last fall to install a storm drainage system, the opportunity was lost to remark the roads in the area and add signage to avoid this traffic hazard.
CHEERS: To the contributions of the La Commission scolaire de langue française (CSLF) de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard is helping the province achieve such outstanding results in the recent Pan-Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP) student testing. The CSLF and Public Schools Branch are the two educational authorities in the province and the work of each deserves to be commanded. P.E.I. came out tops in the country in reading in national standardized test results and improved significantly in mathematics and science. PCAP measures Grade 8 students in reading, mathematics and science every three years.
CHEERS: To UPEI for introducing its seventh faculty: The Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering. The decision was approved by the UPEI Senate and Board of Governors to elevate the school’s status, gaining autonomy and a dean. The new status recognizes the school’s achievements in research, teaching and service in a few short years. The new faculty is independent from UPEI’s Faculty of Science and will have at its helm Dr. Nicholas Krouglicof, whose title changes from associate dean to dean. The first graduates walked across the state at UPEI Convocation 2017 last weekend.
CHEERS: To Isabelle O’Connell, the recipient of the City of Charlottetown Prize at the Provincial Heritage Fair held earlier this month. The prize is awarded to the student who exhibits an outstanding project on any aspect of Charlottetown’s heritage. O’Connell, a Grade 5 student from Stratford Elementary, won the prize for her project on Government House, the home of the Lieutenant Governor, one of the finest and most historically significant houses in the city. Built in 1834, this Georgian influenced residence was designed and constructed by Isaac Smith, in association with Henry Smith and Nathan Wright.
CHEERS: To Michael Thompson, co-founder of Odyssey Virtual, named the recipient of the 2018 Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce Student Entrepreneur Award. Thompson, a full-time Business Administration student at the University of Prince Edward Island co-owns Odyssey Virtual with Evan Hawley. The award, sponsored by Air Canada, was presented at the chamber’s President’s Annual Luncheon May 14. In his second year at UPEI, Michael, together with Evan, co-founded Odyssey Virtual, a content marketing company that specializes in virtual reality technology providing 3D virtual tours specifically for touring buildings and properties.
CHEERS: To Dr. Charles Duffy, named the Family Doctor of the Year, by the College of Family Physicians for Prince Edward Island (CFPPEI). The honour was announced on Family Doctor Day (May 18), and is college’s highest honour that recognizes an outstanding family physician who best exemplifies what being a family doctor is all about. The college is also recognizing Dr. Keith Baglole and Dr. Katherine Bell with its Awards of Excellence. Family Doctor of the Year recipients are chosen by their peers for providing exceptional care to their patients, making significant contributions to the health and well-being of their community and/or society in general, and dedicating themselves to educating future generations of family doctors.
