FIRST year Medicine student Amy Rosario is the inaugural recipient of The University of Notre Dame Australia’s (UNDA) Saint Mary MacKillop Award for her outstanding contribution to the advancement of the Catholic mission and the Objects of the University on the Fremantle campus.
Miss Rosario was congratulated for her achievements in front of academic staff, fellow students and family members at the UNDA Awards Ceremony held at the Fremantle Campus on 12 April.
The St Mary MacKillop Award was one of four service awards presented which recognised students’ commitment, dedication and enthusiasm to pastoral care at university and in the wider community.
The Award was established in recognition of St Mary MacKillop’s canonisation on 17 October 2010 – the only Australian to be recognised by the Catholic Church as a saint.
It adds to Ms Rosario’s growing number of accolades including the Dianne Wansborough Scholarship for Nursing in 2008 and the St John of God Health Care Outstanding Student Award in 2009. On campus, Ms Rosario has also been a student mentor, a student ambassador, a member of the Student Affairs Committee, President of the Nursing Society and part of the Mary MacKillop Festival in 2010.
“With all the work I did to get the Festival happening, to actually have an award named after her is so amazing and to be the first recipient is a huge honour,” Miss Rosario said.
“I think it’s really important to enjoy your undergraduate degree as it’s one of the only times in your life where you have the opportunity, time and flexibility to do all these beautiful things Notre Dame offers you.”
The Archbishop Foley Award was presented to Vincent Restifo, who co-founded a Philosophy and Theology club for students with Tammy Nguyen and Rosemary Parker. The Faulkner Award went to Mardi McNamara and Sarah Crute won her third Service Award at Notre Dame as she received the Helen Lombard Award. Ms Crute has been the President and Vice President of UNDA’s Students for Social Justice and is currently the national representative for the St Vincent de Paul Society.
The University Medal was won by 2010 Bachelor of Commerce graduate Gemma Roddan.