University News
For immediate release
Gaiters' Frances Bajdik-Bova wins CIS Community Service Award
LENNOXVILLE - November 5, 2009
Frances Bajdik-Bova, a fourth-year centre with the Bishop's Gaiters, was named the winner of the CIS Student-Athlete Community Service Award for Women's Rugby. The CIS made the announcement tonight in Vancouver, at the annual Women's Rugby Championship awards banquet.
Bajdik-Bova becomes the first Gaiter ever to win a CIS national award in women's rugby, and is the first Bishop's athlete in any sport to win a CIS Community Service Award.
“Frances is a leader in the Bishop’s community,” said Gaiters head coach Eryn Hessian. “On the field and off she puts people first and challenges those around her to do the same. Her contributions have been, in short, exceptional.”
Bajdik-Bova, a native of Ottawa, has been a four-year starter for the Gaiters at the centre position, and has set an example for her teammates throughout her time at Bishop’s.
On the pitch, her greatest asset to the team is her tackling and she can be counted on to help slow down opponents in the middle of the field. She scored the first try of her career this fall, on Oct. 8 against Sherbrooke, in a game that saw the Gaiters end a nearly three-year winless streak.
In the classroom, Bajdik-Bova is studying Elementary Education, where she maintains an 80 per cent average. She was a CIS Academic All-Canadian in 2007-08.
On the community service front, Bajdik-Bova is involved in a plethora of activities that literally span the globe. She is the president of Big Buddies, an organization that matches Bishop’s students with Lennoxville youth. She is also involved with the Down Under Christian Group, where she helped organize a “Coats for Kids” program that collected and distributed snowsuits to needy children. She spent last winter on exchange in South Africa, where she taught children ranging in age from 7 to 18 at Amassango, a school for street children and children who are “intrinsically disadvantaged”. After her school term finished, Bajdik-Bova went to Uganda, where she worked at the Sabino Home Orphanage, and volunteer-taught eight classes at a rural school.
Upon her return, Bajdik-Bova dedicated herself to supporting the orphanage and the school in Uganda. She started a scholarship for the school, with the goal of raising enough money to pay for three children to complete Grade 8. Her first fundraiser, a prom dress rugby event on October 24, raised over $750 – enough to send one student to school for a year.
The Bishop's Gaiters finished the 2009 season 2-4 and in a tie for fourth place in the Quebec University Rugby Union.
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