The Dawson College Foundation is pleased to welcome several new board members this fall. Among them is Adam Bright, an English teacher who has joined this dedicated group of volunteers supporting the Foundation’s mission. He recently sat down with the Communications Office for a Q & A.
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Did you know that the Dawson College Foundation provides microgrants for small-scale initiatives that need just a little extra help to become feasible?
As an offshoot from SAGE Project funding, the Foundation is excited to introduce Seeds for the first time this academic year as an alternative to SAGE. Seeds Microgrants are intended to be just that, seed money for ideas that don’t need a big budget, but that can still have a big impact on students.
In contrast to SAGE Project funding where applications are reviewed only once per year, the allocation of Seeds funding is treated on a punctual basis whenever a request is received. This flexibility allows the Foundation to be much more responsive to any emerging needs at the College.
Requests should not exceed $1,000. Requests should be made directly to the Dawson Foundation via email to Mitchell Rae Yang: myang@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
Do you have a great idea for a project that could benefit students, but you don’t have the budget to make it happen? The Dawson Foundation may be able to help you! Student Academic Growth and Enrichment (SAGE) projects should clearly improve the academic or para-academic experience at Dawson and go above and beyond the…
The Food Justice program at Dawson has been significantly expanded this year. Free food is being offered five days a week to the Dawson community, a vital part of the College’s commitment to well-being for all. Coordinated by the Office of Sustainability and funded by the Dawson Foundation and the Dawson Student Union, the program addresses food insecurity while advancing social justice and sustainability on campus.
Diana Rice of the Office of Sustainability explains that there is a broader understanding of sustainability that includes peace and social justice. “Food Justice programming is a critical piece,” she says, due to its role in tackling the harmful impacts of industrial agriculture on the environment and marginalized communities. The program prioritizes ethical purchasing by sourcing organic and local food to reduce pollution, protect biodiversity, and support economic stability for vulnerable groups.
There is a major impact on students and the entire Dawson community. “A student once confided that being able to eat lunch or breakfast four days a week meant that they could give their mom a break in terms of groceries, which were becoming more and more unaffordable,” Diana shared. “They said it was a relief because they already felt guilty about going to school and not working full time to help support the family. Knowing that they could help save money and keep food in the pantry at home longer made going to school more worthwhile and kept it accessible.”
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The Dawson Foundation is a dedicated team of two people who work together to raise money and then use that money to support Dawson students.
The Foundation not only provides funding to help bolster existing services at the College such as Financial Aid, but they also coordinate three of their own initiatives: The Food Justice Program, SAGE Projects, and Seeds Microgrants. As a Foundation, the team raises money to make its work possible through fundraising events, grants, and generous donations from individuals in the wider community beyond Dawson’s walls.
Donors have contributed to awards and scholarships, the Financial Aid Office and psychoeducational assessments for students.
Today, the Foundation looks forward to continuing to fulfil its promise to be here for Dawson students by allocating nearly $50,000 towards programs that help provide free access to food including free breakfasts twice a week, free lunch once a week, and free grocery produce distribution every other week, on top of an increased budget for the Food Bank and the free snacks that the Foundation gives to students who haven’t had a chance to eat anything before they write their English or French exit exams.
Curious to learn more? Visit the Dawson Foundation at their office in room 3H.01 during their drop-in hours every Wednesday from 9:30 AM–11:30 AM.
Early Bird Breakfasts: Free breakfasts every Monday and Thursday, starting the week of Sept. 8. Join us in Conrod’s from 9:30 AM until supplies last for a FREE vegetarian breakfast. First come, first served! Brought to you by the Office of Sustainability, with the help of Student Services; funded by the Dawson College Foundation. Sustainable…
Nine Dawson College students are heading to Hamburg this September after winning a major international science competition. The “Dawson Technicolor” team will spend two weeks at DESY, Germany’s renowned particle physics laboratory, to test their own detector using a particle accelerator.
The student-initiated project began nearly a year ago in the context of the Dawson High Energy Physics group, led by Physics faculty members Manuel Toharia and Joel Trudeau. With funding from the Dawson Foundation, the team designed and built a muon detector called The Scintillating Chamber during the winter 2025 semester. Teacher Manuel believes this prototype was key to the team’s winning proposal in CERN’s prestigious Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition.
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A new award celebrating exceptional team spirit has been presented for the first time to Dawson women’s basketball player Salina Haynes. The Troy Cornford Team Player Award honours the memory of Troy Cornford, who passed away in December 2024 after a courageous battle with ALS. It is funded by donations in his memory to the Dawson College Foundation.
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Over 200 people joined for the Fiesta Solidaria on April 24, an annual community gathering and fundraiser organized by students and teachers in the Social Change & Solidarity profile. Student families, community partners, and alumni packed the room to hear student speeches, to see student-produced films and art, and to support the profile’s new and…
The 27th annual Artists in Bloom was a successful evening with more than 100 guests and a grand total of $11,817 raised for the Dawson College Mental Health Fund and the vernissages of two of our programs, Illustration and Visual Arts.
Thirty student artists from Illustration and Visual Arts painted for two hours while those in attendance enjoyed seeing art being created, listening to live music, and visiting with guests and colleagues. All attendees were amazed by the talent of the student artists and what they were able to do in a mere two hours.
The auction, guided by The Beat’s Donna Saker and Dawson’s Geoff Kloos, featured some great back-and-forth bidding wars. All in attendance contributed to a great atmosphere.
This would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, student and staff volunteers and especially our incredibly talented student artists and supportive attendees. A special thank you to the organizing committee: Neal Armstrong, Amanda Beattie, Kiana Kisiel, Michelle Lee and Carey-Ann Pawsey.
Last Modified: November 6, 2025
