Oak Park student gets $1,000 award

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This article was published 29/06/2015 (3932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An Oak Park Grade 12 student who has served as an academic and athletic inspiration is graduating with honours in all categories.

On June 11 at the Holiday Inn South location, Riley Dirks attended the 2015 Credit Union of Manitoba High School Scholar Athlete Awards. In a room filled with 49 students from across Winnipeg, all of whom have participated in at least two interscholastic sports and maintain averages higher than 85 per cent, Dirks was chosen to receive one of four $1,000 scholarships presented at the ceremony.

While Dirks is captain of the Oak Park football team, the skip on the school’s curling team and a leader in both cross-country and track and field, he said “I don’t really consider myself an athlete.”

“It was great to be a part of so many school sports this year and feel like I made an impact but in general, I’m more of a nerd,” Dirks admits.

His competitive nature forces him to work extremely hard in school to remain at the top of his class. Dirks is graduating with a 99.57 per cent average, along with two A-plus grades already on his university transcript in both AP physics and AP calculus.

“I’m fully addicted and passionate about math,” Dirks said. “I work hard to do well, but in math, I love every minute.”

Earlier in the year, the Oak Park graduate received the University of Manitoba Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship, which recognizes strong leadership skills paired with academic giftedness. The Leader of Tomorrow Scholarship is valued at $16,000 and is allocated over four years of study. Dirks has been accepted for direct entry into Commerce at the University of Manitoba for the fall, and plans to major in actuarial mathematics.

“I want to become an actuary, I don’t know exactly where yet but there are many new jobs opening for actuaries,” Dirks said.  

He explains how he wants to have a non-typical job as an actuary in the future as many risk-taking companies are starting to see the value of their expertise. While his academic average and drive to succeed set him apart as a candidate to receive his latest scholarship, he also makes a huge effort to give back to his community.

Dirks said Siloam Mission is his favourite place to volunteer his time.

“It’s just become a passion, it’s great to see people with smiles on their faces, everyone is so polite and I think it helps defeat stereotypes that are totally outrageous,” Dirks said.

He brings in groups of approximately six people weekly to prepare and serve food for a few hours and enjoys being able to interact with all the patrons.

“He’s an exceptional athlete but what makes him unique is his personality,” Oak Park football coach Stuart Nixon said. “He’s a really giving person, a deep thinker, and an extremely intelligent young man who has certainly left his mark here at Oak Park. He’s got a social conscience that I’ve never seen before in anyone and I couldn’t begin to tell you all the different things he volunteers his time to.”

Dirks said his greatest accomplishment this year was taking part in the Pembina Trails Human Rights Project at Investors Group Field. He and a peer were chosen to do the math for the elaborate project where they had to figure out how many tiles to use to make the dove-shaped hand.

Moving into the next chapter of his life, Dirks plans to continue to play football in a night league and is determined to keep up his volunteer work at Siloam Mission and various other places. He said he has learned a tremendous amount from playing high school sports and is honoured to receive the scholarship for all of his efforts in school and sport to put towards his tuition.