Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence – Montreal, June 8, 2017 – Jacinthe-Pascale Gratton, Manager, Communications and Government Affairs announced the names of the 22 student-athletes who are sharing a total of $80,000 in individual bursaries in the 6th edition of the Alcoa Canada Bursary Program through the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence (FAEQ).

This year, 10 Academic Excellence bursaries were awarded to recognize excellent grades, 11 Academic and Athletic Support bursaries were awarded to promote the successful balancing of scholastic and athletic pursuits, and one University Recruitment bursary was awarded in order to encourage a high-level student-athlete to pursue her educational and athletic career at a Quebec university.

“Alcoa is pleased to be able to support the academic and athletic development of young student-athletes whose dedication to facing and overcoming challenges makes them models of perseverance we can all look up to,” declared Jean-François Cyr, president of Alcoa Canada.

The Foundation’s president, Claude Chagnon, thanked Alcoa Canada not only for its continued loyalty, but also for its increased contributions to the program over the past six years. “We’re very proud of the confidence that businesses have in the Foundation, its personnel, and its bursary recipients. We’re pleased to have Alcoa Canada as one of our prestige sponsors. It’s been very rewarding to see the company identify more and more strongly with the FAEQ’s mission and develop a real interest in the academic, athletic, and professional careers of its bursary recipients.”

Many of this year’s recipients have made names for themselves in the international arena. They include Jacqueline Simoneau, 7th in duet synchronized swimming at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio; Rosalie Lalonde, 5th in wheelchair basketball at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio; Béatrice Lamarche, two-time bronze medallist at the 2016 speed skating World Junior Championships (Long Track); Cendrine Browne, 26th in the 30 km skate at the 2017 cross-country skiing World Championships in Finland; Viviane Tranquille, 5th at the Junior World Championships in tae kwon do; René Cournoyer, gold medallist in artistic gymnastics in the all-around category at Elite Canada;Michèle Morissette, Canadian champion in senior doubles racquetball; Maxence Beauchesne, Junior Canadian Champion in the 200 m K1 kayak sprint; and Charles Paquet, Junior Canadian Champion in triathlon.

2017 Alcoa Canada Bursary Recipients – 22 Student-athletes

Name	Age	Discipline	Cat.	Amount	City	Academic Institution
Legend Categories (Cat.): E = Academic Excellence Bursary / S = Academic and Athletic Support Bursary / R=University Recruitment
Deschambault Aluminium Plant
Lamarche, Béatrice	18	Long track speed skating	S	$4,000	Québec (Cap-Rouge)	Cégep de Sainte-Foy
Pilote-Fortin, Gabrielle	24	Cycling	S	$4,000	Neuville	UQAM
Sweeney, Marguerite	16	Snowboarding	E	$4,000	Saint-Basile (Portneuf)	École Cardinal-Roy
Trudel, Frédérique	23	Mountain Biking	E	$4,000	Lévis	Université Laval
Vézina, Frédérique	23	Cross Country Skiing	E	$4,000	St-Ferréol-les-Neiges	Université Laval
Baie-Comeau Aluminium Plant
Morissette, Michèle	21	Racquetball	S	$4,000	Baie-Comeau	Cégep de Sainte-Foy
Murray, Samuel	24	Racquetball	E	$4,000	Baie-Comeau	ETS
Paquet, Charles	19	Triathlon	S	$4,000	Port-Cartier	Cégep Garneau
Bécancour Aluminum Plant
Beauchesne, Maxence	20	Canoe-kayak (sprint)	E	$4,000	Trois-Rivières	Collège Laflèche
Tranquille, Viviane	17	Taekwondo	S	$4,000	Champlain (Mauricie)	Collège Laflèche
Montreal and surrounding areas
Boucher, Loïc-Antoine	17	Canoe/kayak (sprint)	S	$2,000	Montréal (Lachine)	Cégep André-Laurendeau
Brien, Alizée	23	Road Cycling	S	$4,000	Saint-Sauveur	Polytechnique de Montréal
Browne, Cendrine	23	Cross Country Skiing	S	$4,000	Prévost	Université Laval
Cigna, Frédérique	19	Swimming	R	$4,000	Montréal (Ahuntsic)	Université de Montréal
Cournoyer, René	20	Artistic Gymnastics	E	$4,000	Repentigny	Cégep régional de Lanaudière à L’Assomption
De Gelder, Lucas	22	Rowing	E	$4,000	Montréal (Ville-Marie)	McGill University
Dostie-Ménard, Florence	20	Mountain Biking	S	$2,000	Gatineau	Cégep à distance
Field, Erin	15	Diving	E	$2,000	Pointe-Claire	Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine
Lalonde, Rosalie	20	Paralympic Basketball	S	$4,000	Saint-Clet	Université de l’Alabama à Tuscaloosa
Ly, Edward	14	Table Tennis	S	$4,000	Montréal (Lachine)	Collège de Montréal
Mocanu, Alexandra	17	Badminton	E	$2,000	Kirkland	Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine
Simoneau, Jacqueline	20	Synchronised Swimming	E	$4,000	Saint-Laurent	Vanier College

About the Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence The Foundation (faeq.com)
has made a name for itself with a personalized approach, a rigorous management style and its influence in sports and education circles. In 2017, the Foundation will award $1,350,000 in bursaries to over 475 student-athletes and encourage the conciliation of school and high-performance sports. The Foundation works with partners and former scholarship recipients to promote academic, athletic and professional success. Note that from September 22-23-24, 2017, Mont-Tremblant will host the Défi 808 Bonneville, a major cycling event benefitting the FAEQ. Registration is now open at www.defi808bonneville.com

About Alcoa Canada
Alcoa Canada employs 2,500 people and operates three plants in the province of Quebec, using electricity from mostly renewable sources. It also hosts Alcoa Corporation’s worldwide Aluminum Center of Excellence. Together the Bécancour , Deschambault and Baie-Comeau smelters have a production capacity of close to one million metric tons of aluminum in the form of ingot, slab and billet. An active member of the communities in which it is established, Alcoa Canada, together with its employees, gave back more than $2 million in 2016.

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Sources:

Jacinthe-Pascale Gratton
Head of Communications Alcoa
Telephone: 514-789-0861
jacinthe-pascale.gratton@alcoa.com

Annie Pelletier
Communications Director Quebec Foundation for Athletic Excellence
Telephone: 514 252-3171, ext. 3538
annie.pelletier@faeq.com