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A8 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday September 19, 2001 Mac student wins prestigious engineering honour C.D. Howe Award worth $18,000 to Melissa Nock By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville's Melissa Nock has been awarded the C.D. Howe Memorial Foundation Engineering Award, the top first year engineering scholarship for women in Canada. "I'm still amazed," said Nock. "I couldn't believe it when I opened the envelope. It's still surreal." The award - $6,000 a year for three years - is granted to the top male and female engineering student in the country. In her first year' at Mac, Nock earned an 11.74 average out of a possible 12, plac ing her third overall out of 750 first year Engineering students. Nock - who is entering her second year of Engineering at McMaster University was recommended for the award by the school back in June and was informed in late August that she won. In order to receive the award, Nock's academic standing coupled with her com munity involvement and other aspects of her life were taken into account. Aiding in her bid for the award were three sponsor letters, two of which were written by staff at Mac. They included Bob Lorie, head of Engineering One and Prof. Peter Mascher, Head o f Engineering Physics last year. The third letter came courtesy of Joanne Walsh, Nock's staff advisor during her five year's at Iroquois Ridge High School. "Joanne wrote an absolutely phenom enal letter of recommendation which we Nock to earn her MBA in one year instead of two. Walsh characterized Nock as a "gold en kid" whose academic excellence is matched only by her modesty. "The thing that really makes her amaz ing is her work ethic, which is astound ing," said Walsh, who explained that Nock once told her that she realized she had a gift and did not want to squander it. "She takes nothing for granted." Upon entering her first year at McMaster, Nock received the four-year M cM aster Hooker Engineering Scholarship totaling $15,000, the Nortel Networks entrance scholarship ($3,000) and the Canadian M erit Scholarship Award ($1,000). In July of this year, Nock was award ed the J.D.S. Uniphase Scholarship, which bestows $5,000 a year for three years to the top six students entering Engineering Physics at McMaster - and includes an internship if Nock wants it. As if that wasn't enough, she also earned the $800 Edwin Marwin Dailey Memorial scholarship and the $300 Matthews Hall Residence scholarship. In addition to her academics, Nock is known as one of Canada's top ranked Junior badminton players. Nock left the Junior ranks in 2000 when she was ranked third in the country in ladies sin gles and doubles and fifth in mixed dou bles. A member of the McMaster Marauder badminton team, Nock has played num ber one singles and doubles and placed second overall in ladies singles in the Ontario University Association bad minton league. She was also elected to the OUA badminton all-star team. Along the way, she received the Marauder most valuable female badminton player award as well as the team 's Scholarship Achievement Award for 2000-2001. Photo by Barrie Erskine M elissa Nock: won aw ard for being top first year fem ale engineering school student feel made a great contribution to Melissa obtaining this ward," said Nock's father Ernie. While Nock says she doesn't like to brag about herself, Walsh's letter said in part, "M elissa's desire to focus on Engineering Physics is testimorty to her desire to learn and explore new horizons. Recently w e' spoke of her interest in exploring optics and photonics and their applications to environmental issues. This speaks to her creativity, her pioneering spirit and her interest in combining her academics and leadership with her con cern for the environment." Although uncertain about where exactly her futures lies, Nock said optics and photonics is an exciting discipline with medical applications (brain imaging, etc.), laser surgery, fibre optics and more. "The future looks good for this field," she said. M cM aster's five-year Engineering Physics program, which includes Management, will also pave the way for Every year, the 5000 volunteers of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary (CCGA) participate in more than 1700 search and rescue missions, resulting in over 200 lives saved. To reach all those that need help, we need your financial support. 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