Students rally to help one of their own

Posted on 03 February 2012. Tags: academic excellence, CAS, classmates, college, fellows, friends, friendship, fundraising, health, health issues, help, leukemia, struggle, students

Health issues have not hindered this student’s academic excellence

By Carol Hopkins

Students and staff at the College of the North Atlantic’s L.A. Bown Building in Stephenville have been quick to come to the aid of a student who is battling with leukemia.

Amanda Collier, a native of Mainland on the Port au Port Peninsula, is currently undergoing a battery of tests at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John’s. This is the 27-year-old’s third round with the dreaded disease. Once she is in stable condition, the young woman will be flown to Halifax for further treatment.

“She is a student who, because of many things that happened in the past, through the Leukemia, never got the marks she needed to go on and never got the opportunity she needed when she was younger,” said one of her instructors, Gerry Shepherd. “So now she came back in her late 20s to complete the comprehensive arts and science transition program (CAS), so she could do business, which is what she wanted to do.”

CAS gives students who graduate from the program the equivalent of an academic high school diploma and is recognized by universities and colleges across the country. Shepherd said the young woman excelled in the program.

“If she wasn’t our best student, she was very close to it last year,” Shepherd said.

The young woman is well-liked and a trio of her peers have come together to raise money to help her deal with some of the expenses that her health issues have caused.

Gail Fitzpatrick, Darlene Marche and Sharon Young decided to sell 50/50 tickets at the D. S. B. Fowlow and L. A. Bown buildings in Stephenville and are making plans for future fundraising efforts.

“We made over $500 just from the two schools, which was awesome,” Marche said.

Crystal Rubia, a fellow classmate and friend of Collier’s, is planning a pyjama day at the Bown building. Anybody who wanted to wear their pyjamas to school on February 3 could pay the $2 fee to do so. The money will go toward helping defray Collier’s medical travel expenses.

“She’s really nice. She’s outgoing and hardworking. She loves school,” Rubia said. “She’s just like everybody else – well not everybody else; she works pretty hard.”

The community is also getting behind the effort. Louise Hynes of Weezie’s Karaoke will be hosting a benefit karaoke at the Brown Derby in Stephenville on February 19 at 8 p.m. Hynes said there will be soup and sandwiches served throughout the evening. There will also be tickets on sale for a chance to win a variety of items and donations will be accepted at the door.

The young woman also has the teachers’ support behind her. Instructors Brian Alexander and Maureen Kennedy have visited her in hospital. Pam Snow Bennett, another teacher touched by the young woman’s personality, is planning to visit Collier later this month.

“She’s just a really nice person,” said Bennett. “She is very kind-hearted. She was very considerate about her fellow students; always punctual, always on time, trying to do her best work. She was a 4.0 student. She worked hard trying to get her courses and to do well and she took pride in doing well. I think what it is is that she’s a very nice person, very helpful and kind. She always gave of herself to other people in the school and in the classroom, not just in her program and I think people recognize that and they’re just trying to give something back to her in her time of need.”