Als Bursaries recognize solid student athletes

By Andrew Soong, August 29th, 2012

Montreal Alouettes COO Mark Weightman and members of Canada's Olympic team from London were on hand to award $32,500 in bursaries to 25 student athletes Thursday at Molson Stadium in Montreal.
“The Alouettes have made it a priority to help cultivate the next generation of Quebec football stars,” said Weightman about this year's awards donated by the Montreal Alouettes. “Participation in the sport has exploded in recent years and consequently the number of student athletes who play football have grown.”
The Alouettes Bursary Program has committed to give a total of $280,000 to student athletes who excel in a recognized high school, CEGEP or university level football program in conjunction with the Quebec foundation for Athletic Excellence. The program is co-directed by the foundation and Football Quebec in partnership with the Reseau du sport the etudiant du Quebec. In a joint statement the foundation's president Claude Chagnon, Football Quebec president Pierre Robinette and RESQ's president Gustave Roel asserted “we believe strongly that this will allow for today's Alouettes to become role models who will create a link to the solid future of Quebec.”
“These athletes are important role models for the future and we have to support them,” said the foundation's Executive director Pierre Dube who was on hand for the awards about the role of the bursaries. “It is also really important to provide the bursaries to young athletes who need it when they are training in their sports.”
The Montreal Alouettes also honored six medal-winning Canadian Olympians: Andreanne Morin in rowing, Antoine Valois-Fortier in judo, Rhian Wilkinson in soccer and Meaghan Benfeito, Roseline Filion and Emilie Heymans in diving.
All of the Olympians are not only medal winners from the 2012 London Olympics, but also home grown athletes from Quebec some of which received bursaries from the foundation. According to Meaghan Benefeito, “the efforts of the foundation play an important part in the success Quebec athletes achieve in school and competition.”