On April 3, Frank Halligan, Artsci'74, Ed'75, and Sophie Kiwala will receive awards recognizing their longstanding commitment to the Queen’s and Kingston communities.
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Halligan is the 2024 Padre Laverty Award recipient in recognition of his leadership and ongoing championing of sports at Queen’s and in Kingston.
“Just being connected to Padre Laverty's name is an honour,” says Halligan. “I can recall him when I was on campus and seeing him in the city. He was always a welcoming presence and was always there for students when they were in need.”
The Padre Laverty Award is presented biennially by the Kingston Branch of the Queen's University Alumni Association to a degree recipient, usually a resident of the Kingston area, for outstanding service to Queen's University or jointly to the Queen’s and Kingston communities.
“I really don't see it as a giving back,” Halligan says of his volunteer work. “It's just getting engaged with and being part of a community.”
Halligan is a retired high school teacher and coach, former Queen’s Faculty of Education adjunct professor, and was a Queen's football coach from 1994-2000. Halligan also took part in the campaign to revitalize Richardson Stadium.
He was the athletic coordinator for the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association (KASSAA) for more than a decade and oversaw high-school athletic competitions in the region. While in this role, he mentored numerous coaches and athletes and deepened the ties between Queen’s Athletics and Recreation and KASSAA, to the benefit of Queen’s and student athletics in Kingston.
“Queen’s is one of the few campuses I've been on where there's no gates separating campus from the surrounding city,” he notes. “For me, growing up in Kingston, the university and city always blended. The first place I played hockey was at the old Jock Harty Arena. I never saw Queen’s and Kingston as separate and distinct. When I got involved with the university and community in other ways, it just was a natural thing to do.”
The 2024 Jim Bennett Award recipient, Sophie Kiwala, will be honoured for her deep commitment to the Kingston community as an advocate and volunteer. The award honours Kingstonians for outstanding achievements in their careers, sport, the arts, or volunteer endeavours, which contribute to the betterment of Queen’s or Kingston.
“There is so much need in community, so many causes to contribute to, and so much that community and society can gain from giving back and nurturing what we have,” says Kiwala on receiving the award. “I believe that it has never been more important to contribute to fostering positive social change in what is now a very difficult world."
Born and raised in Kingston, Kiwala has a long history of serving the Kingston community. She worked in various roles at the federal and provincial levels, including representing Kingston and the Islands as a member of provincial Parliament from 2014-2018.
She has advocated extensively for causes like fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and ovarian cancer and supported the arts through her work with the Tett Centre. Kiwala supervised a student project management group at St. Lawrence College whose project placed third in the province. She’s also a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Peer-to-Peer Transition from Homelessness pilot project.
As a passionate volunteer with organizations such as Lunch by George and as one of the founders of the Jalal Community Charity Garden, she’s had a deep impact on people in need in the Kingston area.
During the pandemic, Kiwala started the Vulnerable Sector Call, bringing together individuals and organizations to make sure Kingston’s most vulnerable populations had enough to eat.
“Get involved in our community life, follow your passion and volunteer where your calling takes you. There is nothing better than making this world a better place and Kingston and Queen's is a wonderful place to begin that work,” says Kiwala.
Halligan and Kiwala will receive their awards during a ceremony at the Kingston Branch Awards 2024 on April 3 at the University Club. For more information about the event, which is open to the entire alumni community, or to register, please visit the event page.
