NEW HAVEN—Yale University Athletics announced
the three recipients of the 2019-20 Thomas W. Ford Award on Monday. The
three standout seniors share the honor this season are Anna Jennings
(gymnastics), men’s soccer’s Andrew Sady-Kennedy (men’s soccer) and Vanessa
Yu (women’s lacrosse).
ANNA
JENNINGS
Jennings is a
dedicated member of Yale as well as the broader New Haven community. Last
summer, she was awarded the Yale President’s Public Service Fellowship, which
is given to a student exemplifying leadership, and working to tackle social
concerns. With this fellowship, she works on a documentary highlighting the
homeless population in the New Haven community, which will be a capstone
project for her Medical Anthropology major.
“Anna
embodies a community-drive spirit, because she always has the best intentions
at heart, and she truly goes above and beyond to create an impact in anything
she does,” said gymnastics head coach Barbara Tonry. “Anna is involved in so
many charitable organizations, as well as projects that she has led on her own,
and holds leadership roles in almost all of them.”
Jennings has
also been a leader on campus and in the community as a volunteer with both Camp
Kesem and the New Haven PAWS project, which are focused on helping children
affected by cancer, and the well-being of the homeless, respectively.
Additionally, Jennings is a leader within the organization Athletes in Action
on campus, which allows her to apply her dedication and passion for leadership
into her faith practices.
ANDREW
SADY-KENNEDY
Sady-Kennedy’s
volunteer and outreach work was evident over his four years at Yale. Much of
his service came as the Vice President of the Yale International Relations
Association (YIRA). There he aided the New Haven community with numerous
outreach programs including the Yale Model United Nations conference every January,
which averaged 1,600 participants. YIRA also hosted its 2018 conference in
Seoul, South Korea for 300 high schoolers from around the world. Sady-Kennedy
also volunteered as a teach with the Hemispheres Program and hosted the 2017
Yale Model Government Europe conference in Budapest, Hungary.
“Andrew is a
true ambassador for Yale men’s soccer and Yale athletics. He is incredibly selfless
in how he leads his everyday life,” said head 5K Corral Head Coach of Men’s
Soccer Kylie Stannard. “His commitment in helping is shown by him not only
volunteering his time for all the outreach we organize as a team, but then
taking the initiative and giving huge amounts of time to be involved in all the
other volunteering and outreach he has done during his time at Yale, both
locally in New Haven and also representing Yale athletics abroad, as
well.”
Additionally,
Sady-Kennedy assisted with the Mandi Schwartz Bone Marrow Donor Registration
Drive, helped with the New Haven Reads program, was a part of free youth soccer
clinics for the Elm City Internationals after school program, spent hours with
men’s soccer’s Team Impact member, and aided Connecticut Special
Olympics.
VANESSA
YU
Yu’s mother
passed away during her junior year of high school from a rare form of cancer.
In her honor, Yu became the founder of the Macy Yu Scholarship, given annually
to the student who excels in both academics and athletics, at Oyster Bay High
School, (Oyster Bay, N.Y.). Yu is responsible for fundraising and collecting
donations throughout the year to honor her mother with this award.
“Vanessa’s impact
on our program is immeasurable. She is the quintessential selfless team player
and leader,” said Joel E. Smilow, Class of 1954 Head Coach of Women’s Lacrosse Erica
Bamford. “Vanessa said being a counselor at this camp has been one of the best
experiences of her life, but our team benefited from her leadership as a
captain this season. Vanessa unified our team under difficult circumstances and
helped shape our team culture with her quiet, selfless and compassionate
leadership.”
Yu also
served as a counselor and Operations Committee member for Camp Kesem.
Throughout the year leading up to camp, she worked on a team that developed a
budget, created the schedule, chose a campsite, bought supplies, and hosted
in-kind donation drives.
The Thomas W. Ford Award is awarded annually to male and a
female student-athletes who during the past four years has demonstrated their
commitment to strengthening the relationship between Yale Athletics and the
youth in the New Haven community.
—Staff Reports
@Yale / #Yale / #yalebulldogs / #ThisIsYale
No comments:
Post a Comment