A lunch Friday hosted by the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce honoured the 2023 winners of the $5,000 Athena scholarship recognizing community involvement, potential for leadership, academic excellence, and inspiring women to reach their full potential.

This year’s recipients are UWindsor students Gabrielle Gibbs and Annalise Gignac, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry – Windsor Campus student Maegan Miklas and Hannah Wagner, a fourth-year student of social justice and legal studies at St. Clair College.

Gibbs excels academically while actively advocating for equality and change locally and globally. A third-year law student, she volunteers with Pro Bono Students Canada and helps refugee claimants through mock hearings. She serves as president of the Windsor chapter of Women and the Law and represents the University at the Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Law Moot.

Gignac, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student, is passionate about empowering women in leadership roles, mentoring, and community improvement. She serves as president of the Engineering Society and co-president of Women in Engineering. Her volunteer work tutoring with the Windsor Essex Children’s Aid Society earned Gignac the Ontario Youth Service Award.

The luncheon, held at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts, heard a presentation entitled “Lessons from Beyond the Glass Ceiling,” by Hilda MacDonald, Essex County warden and mayor of Leamington.