EMSB to recognize Volunteers of Distinction and present Lifetime Achievement Award

Montreal, April 16, 2025 - On the occasion of National Volunteer Week,  which will be marked from April 27 to May 3, the English Montreal School Board will hold a special  reception and ceremon to honour two Volunteers of Distinction, as well as the presentation of the  Lifetime  Achievement Award.  

The program will take place at the  St. Pius X Career Centre (9955 Papineau) in Ahuntsic on Tuesday, April 29  where the honourees, their families, EMSB commissioners, management, in-school administrators and Parents Committee executive members will be treated  to dinner catered by the culinary students. This will be followed by an awards ceremony  streamed live on the EMSB website.  A special guest for the evening was Tyson Philpot, the star wide receiver for the Montreal Alouettes who is excited to see the St. Pius X culinary students at work. He confided that if he was not a professional football player, he might have become a chef. 

The Volunteers of Distinction are  Veronica Reis  from Bancroft Elementary School in the Plateau and Avice Roberts-Joseph from St. Monica Elementary School. EMSB Chair Joe Ortona decided last year to introduce the Lifetime Achievement Award and use this occasion to highlight one person’s significant contribution to the education system. For 2025, Lew Lewis’ extraordinary 52 year career with students and staff  will also be recognized. 

 Veronica Reis

For the past three years, Veronica has been a member of the Governing Board as treasurer and the head of the Parent Participation Organization (PPO). She is also a parent volunteer at the school’s  Petit Café initiative, which supports parents new to Bancroft and/or Canada.

Veronica Reis

Veronica has organized every single parent led event for the past few years and takes charge of Teacher Appreciation Week, providing  thoughtful gifts every day for a week and a Friday lunch. She has also planned the school’s traditional Christmas breakfast for kids and staff alike, as well as  creating and sowing the costumes for the multiple stage productions. When it comes to  decorating the school for all major holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Lunar New Year) she is there. The same goes for  spearheading multiple  fundraisers, bake sales and Friday pizza. Other parts of her repertoire  include sorbet Wednesdays, movie showings and school book fairs.

Not only does Veronica organize these activities; she executes every one of them as well, with blood, sweat and tears while overseeing  other parent volunteers. It is not unfamiliar to see her  bring huge burners and pots to cook corn on the cob for the whole school,  place trees trunks on her table and cut them intp thin slices to create Christmas ornaments for the kids,  bring BBQs to the school to cook over 500 hundred hot dogs,  create games and activities herself for the Summer Carnival Week like an escape room, a spray/mist shower made of PVC pipes and other water games or scrubbing gym mats before and between movie showings.

Graduating Grade 6 students can always count on Veronica to organize a prom with all of the fixings.   

Over the years Veronica has also headed multiple efforts to beautify the school by painting the  school yard ground for different games, installing colorful slats on the fences and  removing graffiti.

Last year  Veronica organized after school activities for the kids such as  basketball, chess and dance. As if it wasn't enough, she decided to add a sewing class which she taught herself, bringing together  eight sewing machines.

Finally, when the secretary is not available guess who sits down at the desk? Yes, Veronica!

Veronica has three children, two of whom are still at Bancroft.

Avice Roberts-Joseph

Avice is a retired teacher and active volunteer.  She has been involved with the St Monica Breakfast Program since it began in 2007. The goal was to make sure that students had a good start to the day. She cites the importance of a full breakfast or something to augment what they had eaten at home, as well as   a chance to socialize with other students and relax before classes.   Her dedication to student well-being and family support has always been present and part of her excellence for continued success.  As coordinator of the Breakfast Program, not only are her exemplary organizational skills and team approach showcased each day by providing her team of volunteers with detailed plans to accommodate the student needs each morning, but also her ability to build strong relationships with community representatives so that donations and collaborations are maintained. She is an inspiration to the St Monica community and role model in ensuring that we pull together to provide nutritional starts to the student’s day while always understanding that learning can only happen when their well-being is accounted for.  Her collaboration with the Generations Foundation is also a strong one to ensure that no student is left behind daily but also during the holiday season with an engaging breakfast with Santa each December.

Avis Roberts-Joseph

Avice was also involved in the initial homework program at St Monica, helping to coordinate volunteer sessions to help the students.  She coordinated the assistance with high school students who would come after school to assist our St Monica students as needed. She is a believer that movement is key to a healthy life.  Her coordination of the St Monica Walk-A-Thon was another form of contribution to our community since it took place on an annual basis to raise funds for school needs. 

Lew Lewis

Lew Lewis retired as Director of Student Services in the fall of 2019 just months before the COVID-19 lockdown.

Mr. Ortona stated that on an evening where volunteerism is recognized, it is also an opportune time to raise a glass to individuals like Mr. Lewis who have devoted their life to the public education system.

Lew Lewis

A psychologist by profession, Mr. Lewis worked tirelessly in his role with Student Services, which promotes the continuous progress of students by helping them overcome the difficulties they meet, seeing to their psychological, emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being and developing their sense of responsibility, their autonomy, initiative and feeling of belonging to the school and community.

The department also coordinates the special education programs and contributes to the management of complementary services in Social Affairs, regular and outreach schools by providing the following services: psychological, health, social, guidance, drug education , occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, spiritual community animation, child care worker, oral interpreters, nurses, social workers, and behaviour management specialists.

Mr. Lewis worked as a psychological/ vocational counsellor between 1968 and 1972 after which he worked as a psychologist at the elementary level and serviced approximately 12 schools at that time. Subsequently, in 1982, Mr. Lewis became the Coordinator of Guidance Services, followed by the Assistant Director of Student Services in 1987 and finally Director of Student Services in 2001.

 In the 1970s, the PSBGM had six psychologists for 65,000 students whereas  today the EMSB has 15 psychologists for almost 20,000 youth sector students. In fact, he started working at the Board when there was only one speech- language pathologist, whereas today the EMSB has 20such professionals.

As the number of students diagnosed with special needs, especially students with autism, increased exponentially, Mr. Lewis hired many more staff such as special education technicians and attendants and, as well, formed many partnerships with hospitals, universities, CLSC’s, to address the needs of these students with various challenges. Mr. Lewis,in the hiring process, focussed on important soft skills such as empathy, a strong work ethic, an ability to accept feedback, integrity, and a  teamwork focus—-elements that are very difficult to train people in. 

Amongst Mr. Lewis’s proudest achievements are the development of a mental health resource centre at the EMSB, the establishment of the first school board  trauma team in Quebec in 1993, the hiring of a psychiatrist for consultation purposes for the board in 2017, the establishment of the Herzl Teenage Health Unit at the Jewish General Hospital in 1985 in collaboration with Dr. Michael Malus, the development and expansion of the Hospital Opportunity Program for Students (HOPS), the implementation of a summer language camp for those students with various challenges in this area, and most importantly, the hiring of a wonderful group of talented, dedicated, supportive,skilled and caring professionals providing services to our school board community!!

After retiring from the Board in December 2019, beside continuing his ongoing and regular jogging and exercise program,Mr. Lewis decided to unretire and currently works as a psychologist in private practice providing therapy to individuals with a wide range of challenges that they are currently experiencing in their life.

Happily married for 58 years, Mr. Lewis would tell you that his greatest achievement is his family—-his two adult children and six grandchildren ranging in age from 14 to 21 years of age.

Max Kalinowicz

Max Kalinowicz is a graduate of Royal Vale School in NDG, where his mom Natalie was a devoted  volunteer. Max is the promotions producer at Global Montreal, a job which has seen him  visit EMSB schools often with camera crews and reporters. He has always gone the extra mile for the EMSB, be it working on special projects with the Marketing and Communications Department or schools.

Max Kalinowicz

Working on photography and video since high school led Max to graduate from Concordia University with a BFA in Film Production. He spends a lot of his free time working on professional photography for a multitude of events and projects, that led him to an interest in journalism. In 2013, he started at Global Montreal as an intern cameraman/editor, and has worked there ever since. His stint as a video-journalist came to an end in 2016 when he moved on to become the Associate Producer and then promotions.

When not at work, Max still enjoys photography and video, with a multitude of side projects. He is a huge music fan, having learnt a few instruments starting as early as three years old. He enjoys cooking, video games and all things technology. He has a huge interest in space, biology and physics, hoping to one day take trip through the cosmos. While waiting for inter-planetary travel, Max intends to one day visit every continent and dreams of producing his own travel/food show. Exploring diverse cultures and landscapes is on the top of the list.

Program Sponsor

Beneva (www.beneva.ca) continues to serve as  the title sponsor for the EMSB’s recognition efforts for volunteers. The company offers a wide range of products and services that are designed to simplify financial choices for members working in the public and para-public sectors in over 900 public and para-public institutions across the province.  These services include: personal financial advice, savings, investments and funds; individual life and health insurance; mortgages and personal loans; insurance for automobiles, recreational vehicles, home, travel and legal access; commercial insurance; and group insurance.   

About the English Montreal School Board

With a youth and adult sector population of more than 35,000 students, the English Montreal School Board (EMSB) is the largest English public school board in Quebec. Established on July 1, 1998, when the province created new boards along linguistic lines, the EMSB network consists of 73 schools and centres. For more details, visit the EMSB website at www.emsb.qc.ca.

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Contact:

Michael J. Cohen 

Manager, Marketing and Communications

English Montreal School Board

514-483-7200, ext. 7243