In September 2018, Ms. Mary-Evelyn Ternan, Chair of the Awards & Nominations Committee of the Saint Mary’s University Alumni Association, informed me that I had been nominated and selected as the recipient of a Paul Lynch Volunteer of the Year Award for 2018. The annual Alumni Awards celebrate the achievements of our alumni and the work they do in the community as true Santamarians. Each year the board, at SMU, honour alumni with the Distinguished Community Service Award, Paul Lynch Volunteer of the Year Award, Young Alumni of the Year Award, and Associate Alumni of the Year Award.

At first, I was very much surprised and a little reluctant to accept this award, as I was fully occupied with my work at that time and was unable to travel for a very long distance to receive this award. Ms. Ternan suggested to me that I could provide a short video of thanks to the people in the room at the event and that the formal presentation could be made the next time a SMU delegation travelled to Hong Kong. Ms. Ternan also stressed that it’s important for our alumni and friends to see the work that alumni are doing all over the globe on behalf of SMU. After a discussion with my fellow committee members of the Hong Kong Chapter, I reconsidered and accepted to receive the award in absentia. Subsequently, the One World Alumni Awards Gala took place on Thursday, October 11th from 6-8:30pm in the Loyola Conference Hall (LA290) at Saint Mary’s. Here is my speech I delivered to the audience in my video.