2022 Award Recipients
This award was established in 2008 to recognize exceptional students who have a record of academic achievement, consistently demonstrate leadership, and make significant contributions to our community.
Helena Cherniak-Kennedy
Combined Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science (Honours)
Mathematics
Helena Cherniak-Kennedy is an advocate for empowering women in STEM and finance.
She held various leadership roles with Women in Science and Engineering and, as a founding executive of the UCalgary Chapter of the Association for Women in Math, organized events such as Sonia Kovalevsky Day, which encouraged high school girls to pursue math. Cherniak-Kennedy was also co-president of the UpLIFTED student executive, which is part of Scotiabank’s UpLIFTED Women in Finance Development program. Through this volunteer work, she organized an interactive workshop to help female students prepare for finance interviews.
She also co-created the Motivate(her) podcast, which features women succeeding in male-dominated industries to bring together a community of women and inspire students to feel unbounded in choosing a career.
Cherniak-Kennedy pursued her academic skillset with passion. She competed in several case competitions nationally for her faculty and finished first in 2021. She gained financial experience with the Calgary Portfolio Management Trust, a student-run investment fund and was a pro bono consultant for the student-run University of Calgary Consulting Association.
Additionally, she was co-chair of the Chancellor’s Ambassadors Club, a teaching assistant in multiple courses, a research assistant, and undertook her honours thesis in mathematical finance.
Cherniak-Kennedy will be starting her career as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan.