Garden City student receives humanitarian award

Garden City

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This article was published 17/05/2023 (1187 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Orion Remoquillo is just one of 15 students from across Canada to win a Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and a scholarship worth up to $28,000 this year — and he’s the only one in Winnipeg.

The Grade 12 Garden City Collegiate student is confident and sure-headed. Everyone in the building knows who he is, he said, and he’s on good terms with just about everyone around him, including teachers. He jokes that people will now point at him on the school grounds.

As he walks through the hallway of the large school, Remoquillo carries a small camera with a microphone attached. He’s making a documentary, he said, as his life has just been going upwards and upwards recently. As he says it, he lifts his hand in a motion that resembles climbing stairs.

Remoquillo’s Terry Fox award recognizes his extensive volunteer work — more than 600 hours — and his time and dedication to helping younger children with special needs through various different activities. He’s also devoted time to helping with Special Olympics.

“Working with the kids isn’t anything different for me,” Remoquillo said. His brother has Fragile X syndrome (a genetic disorder that can lead to intellectual disabilities), something he’s helped with at home.

“I learned how to deal with things differently (through that),” he said. “I truly enjoy working with them.”

The 17-year-old puts a lot of work into just about everything he does, and his efforts have been showing especially in his last years at the high school — this scholarship has been a solid proof of that.

A member of the Garden City Gophers varsity boys basketball team, Remoquillo was this year’s recipient of the Lana Wenke Courage Award, presented by Basketball Manitoba

Remoquillo himself has been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, ADHD and OCD, three disorders that he doesn’t necessarily call disabilities — just things that he’s had to deal with growing up. He said there have been hurdles throughout his entire academic career, but his confidence has spiked in the last few years.

“This year I approached things and life differently,” he said. “With a different perspective of seeing things, kind of being more mindful and not getting too distracted or overwhelmed, that was such (a big part) of my development this year.”

He’s gained a lot of confidence through speaking and learning from others as well, referring to the school as a sort of family.

Alongside his community work, Remoquillo has a podcast, Danny’s Digital Show.

He said that he’s been taking this camera throughout his time working with the kids, playing basketball and his activity in the community. He’s hoping that his story can inspire others the same way that they’ve inspired him throughout this period.

“No matter what you do, just be great — you know, be authentic and be authentically you,” he said.

He often falls back to a quote from a from a Garden City collegiate alumnus, also a basketball player, named Jared Ogungbemi-Jackson, to reach this sentiment.

“I met him in Grade 8,” Remoquillo said. “He has this one quote… ‘stay true, be great,’ Stay true to who you are… as a father, friend, whatever it is. Stay true to who you are then… be great.”

Remoquillo plans to study physical education at the University of Winnipeg after graduation.