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 Bill Byrick, director of athletics at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., stands between Stephen Dunbar of Yellowknife and Julianna Stonehouse of Dartmouth, N.S., after the two students won the coveted Arthur Cup for athletic leadership. - photo courtesy of Trent University |
Lisa Scott
Northern News Services
Trent University bestowed one of the highest graduate awards available at the Peterborough, Ont., school on Dunbar, March 25, at the Athletic Awards Ceremony -- the Arthur Cup. He shared the honour with a student from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The award recognized the athletic, coaching and leadership skills Dunbar used in his four years at the school to develop the Nordic Ski Club.
The politics and history student also competed on and coached the nordic ski team and formed the junior varsity feeder team at Trent.
Dunbar is the son of Linda and Blair, who were major forces in helping cross-country skiing grow in the North since 1969. They have since relocated to Canmore, but their influence is obvious in their 22-year-old son.
The first thing Dunbar did after the ceremony was wake his parents up in the West to tell them the news.
The Sir John Franklin high school grad says athletics and school have always gone together for him.
"It helps my school work. It gives me something to focus on that's not academic," he said from his Peterborough home.
Growing up in Yellowknife, Dunbar learned to ski before he learned to walk. By the age of 12 he was on the high performance ski team and then onto the NWT Ski Team.
He credits these experiences for helping him create the Nordic Ski Club at Trent, where he increased student's interest in skiing through clinics and recreational events. Dunbar even borrowed a snowmobile to build the 600 metre track on the campus each winter.
"I went from one sporting community to another sporting community," he said.
The director of athletics at Trent called the award the highest accolade for leadership in athletics at the school.
"Stephen is the reason we actually have a nordic ski club," said Bill Byrick.
"He was persistent enough to make it happen."
Dunbar will graduate this spring with an honours degree in politics and history.
He's not making any promises, but if a liaison officer position at Trent falls through, he may return North to work.
