The winner of the James Raymond Cowling University/College Scholarship is Francesca Lombardo the Chapter President at the Dawson College chapter in Montreal, Quebec. 

Francesca has been involved with the chapter for the past two years and in the role of Chapter President for the last year.  While leading the group, she recruited 25 student buddies and successfully matched each one. 

Francesca didn’t think that the chapter’s activities needed to be solely on campus events, but rather community event!  Therefore, she took the initiative to work with Miriam Home to allow the buddies to attend Yoga classes at Dawson; and most significantly, she worked with the host site to permit more off campus activities for the buddies! 

The Best Buddies program “has shown me that individuals with intellectual disabilities have a lot to offer the world," said Francesca.  "They are people who are fun, smart and have huge hearts.”

For that reason, Francesca is going on to get her Masters Degree in Inclusive Education.