Four women were applauded for their contributions to life in the Estevan area during the 19th annual Quota International of Estevan Women of Today Awards.
Joyce Mack (Cathedral Insurance Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Workplace), Robin Dowhanuik (Ida Petterson Memorial Award for Outstanding Entrepreneur), Tia Dayman (Shirley Orsted Memorial Award for Outstanding Young Woman of Today) and Christa Morhart (SaskTel Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community) were this year’s award recipients.
The honours were handed out in front of a crowd of more than 250 people at the Wylie-Mitchell building on Wednesday afternoon.
Mack is the longtime cosmetology instructor at the Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS). She dedicates many hours to her job, ensuring students are prepared for Skills Canada competitions. Many students have won medals at the provincial and national levels during her tenure at the school.
“It’s recognition from a parent, who was my nominator, on behalf of a Skills Canada student, and to be recognized by a parent, for working with their children, is exciting for me,” said Mack. “And working with children is exciting for me.”
Mack said she wants to see students have a strong work ethic, regardless of what they do in the future. She believes Skills Canada teaches students such traits as endurance, time management, productivity and more.
“I still think that’s a strong point that we need the students to see,” said Mack. “I like working together with them for all of those hours that I request them to be involved, so that they can understand what it’s like to work and be successful.”
Every day at the school is different, she said, and she loves it when students grasp an idea and use it to further their abilities. She also loves the time she gets to spend with all of the young people.
Mack is also involved with the school’s musical production.
Dowhanuik has been the owner of Crown Advertising for the past five years. Moments after she was announced as the winner, Dowhanuik said she was honoured to accept the honour.
She started working with Crown Advertising a couple of years before she became the owner.
Then, when the previous owner, Rod Fagerheim, became ill, he approached Dowhanuik and another employee about purchasing the long-standing Estevan business.
“I’m carrying as well as I can for Rod, and trying to teach my kids that they can do this,” said Dowhanuik.
She was honoured when Fagerheim selected her to own Crown Advertising. She believes he saw something in her to make her a worthy successor.
“I am carrying on his legacy, because I am very much like Rod Fagerheim,” she said with a laugh.
She paid tribute to the people who work at Crown Advertising, and the customers who come in each day.
“I have … absolutely amazing staff and great people that I work with,” said Dowhanuik. “I love the people. My clients are amazing. I have excellent clients. They’re more my friends than they are my clients.”
She also appreciates the freedom of owning her own business.
Dayman is a Grade 12 student at the Estevan Comprehensive School who has taken an active role in the arts community, serving as the co-editor of the ECS yearbook. She and other students have dedicated hundreds of hours to partnering with Estevan Diversified Services to create a human rights handbook that will soon be published.
She also mentors younger students, and is involved with a number of community groups.
“It’s such an honour and such a surprise to win,” said Dayman. “Everyone here is so deserving, and I have so much respect for every woman involved.”
Seven other young women were nominated for the award, and Dayman said she knows each of them quite well. Some of them are among her closest friends.
“I know all of the amazing things about them, and all of the amazing things that they do, and so it’s very nice to see everybody recognized for doing such good work,” she said.
Dayman said she has selected her activities because she enjoys them, and she wants to make other people happy through her efforts. She is looking forward to the release of the human rights book.
“So many people worked so hard and put so much emotion and hard work into it,” said Dayman.
Dayman will study humanities at the University of Toronto this fall.
Morhart has taken an active role in the community since returning to Estevan seven years ago. She started by joining the United Way Estevan’s board, and just wrapped up a one-year term as the organization’s president.
“I’m a United Way lifer,” said Morhart. “I feel very passionately about the United Way and what they do for the community. It impacts multiple member agencies, all different groups and all different cultures, and it’s something that encompasses the whole community.”
She has also had a leading role through various organizations her children are involved with, such as the school community council at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur, Girl Guides and football.
Morhart traces her work in the community to the words of her grandfather, who said, “If you don’t like what you see in the world, get involved and make a change.”
She said she likes what she sees, but Morhart wanted to see something better.
Morhart is proud to see how her children are now getting involved in various aspects of the community. Her youngest daughter is only nine years old, but can’t wait to become a United Way board member.
“It really warms my heart to know they’re following my example, and hopefully their children and their friends (will be involved) as well,” she said.
This year’s guest speaker Sherry Knight of Regina, who is the president and CEO of Dimension 11 human resources consulting firm. She encouraged the audience to be unstoppable women.
For more on Knight’s speech, please see next week’s edition of the Estevan Mercury.
