A look at the first five years of the UBC Okanagan Athletics Scholarship Breakfast

The Valley First/UBC Okanagan Athletics

Keeping Our Student Athletes in Canada

Cliché as it is, time does seem to fly. Last April we held our fifth annual UBC Okanagan Scholarship Breakfast. Looking back to the first breakfast, with then UBC President Martha Piper as the guest speaker, our department has come a long way. UBC Okanagan has established itself, not only as an autonomous campus in the UBC system, but as a destination university consisting of more than 7000 students from the Okanagan, other parts of British Columbia, Canada and 66 other countries. The campus has grown incredibly over that time, opening the Fipke Building, the University Centre, Arts and Science II, Nonis Field, and soon the Southern Medical School and the Engineering Management Building. Construction of a fitness/wellness centre will commence in 2011. These facilities represent the doubling of space on campus.

Athletically and academically, our students and coaches have had unprecedented success on the field (see below), and the department has experienced some historical milestones off the field as well, including the creation and unveiling of our HEAT name and logo, and gaining membership into the Canada West Universities Athletic Association, and the western conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. Competition will begin in that association against the likes of UBC Vancouver, the University of Victoria, the University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary in both men's and women's basketball and volleyball in the fall of 2011.

In addition to their academic and athletic achievements, our student athletes have been very active in the community, participating in a variety of outreach programs including the Kelowna Food Bank's Stuff the Bus Campaign, Wendy's Dreamlift Day, and the Parkinson's' Society of BC Super Walk. Student athletes also volunteer at seniors' homes, elementary schools, youth sports clinics and other community events.

Our scholarship breakfast has also enjoyed tremendous success. To date, the event has sold out every year and raised over $150,000, which was matched by UBC. Despite the recent global economic downturn, these efforts have created an endowment of over $250,000 funding a number of student athlete awards each year. This has all been made possible by the remarkable support the Breakfast has received from the community.

We are already planning the 2011 Breakfast and hope you will circle Friday, April 8, 2011 on your calendar as the day you once again join us for breakfast in support of our student athletes.

On behalf of everyone involved with UBC Okanagan Athletics, thank you very much for your past support. We hope to see you in the stands cheering on the HEAT.

If you have any questions about anything related to Athletics or Recreation, please feel free to contact me directly. (Please note

Achievements - 2005/06 - 2009/10