Posted on May 6: McMaster Alumni Association recognizes student achievement

At a recent small ceremony in the University Club, Ian Cowan, president of the McMaster Alumni Association, presented fifth-year medical and health physics student Kara Schnarr with the Albert Lager Prize for Student Alumni Relations.

The Albert Lager Prize for Student Alumni Relations was created by the Alumni Association to recognize the efforts of students in fostering a relationship between students and alumni, and in sharing the goals of the Alumni Association with students.

Schnarr has been involved with the Alumni Association since co-ordinating the 20th anniversary reunion event for the Emergency First Response Team (EFRT). On at least two occasions, she has gone out of her way to bring together alumni and current students.

In 2001, Schnarr was the co-ordinator of the National Conference for Campus Emergency Responders (NCCER) at McMaster. One of the priorities with the conference was to highlight the contributions of McMaster's students and alumni to the development of emergency response services. The program featured presentations by McMaster students and alumni, including Eddie Wasser '86, '89. Waser is the founder of the emergency response program at McMaster, the very first program of its kind in Canada.

In planning the 20th Anniversary Celebration of EFRT at McMaster, Schnarr made outstanding attempts to include both students and Alumni. She solicited McMaster Student's Union support and helped to foster a lasting partnership between the MSU and the MAA. She also made special arrangements for non-paying guests to attend after dinner to ensure current students, no matter their means, would be able to share in the joint student-alumni event. In the end, the EFRT 20th Anniversary Celebration brought together more than 70 alumni and students to celebrate a uniquely McMaster achievement.