Ann Buller, President and CEO of Centennial College, has been named one of seven inductees to the Scarborough Walk of Fame for 2018. For well over a decade the Scarborough Walk of Fame has been celebrating the achievements of local heroes who have inspired others to do great things.
Ann Buller was honoured for her many years of leadership at Scarborough’s Centennial College, which opened in a renovated factory on Warden Avenue as Ontario’s first college of applied arts and technology in 1966. With boundless optimism, Ann ushered in an era of comprehensive institutional change when she was named President in 2004.
Ann had moulded Centennial into a dynamic postsecondary institution that transforms lives – much as the college system architect, Bill Davis, had envisioned.
In her remarks at the induction ceremony on October 18, she thanked everyone at the college for helping her to shape Centennial into a true learning institution, one that can lift the most vulnerable up and out of poverty. It was a timely choice to name Ann Buller to the Walk of Fame; she had recently announced her plan to retire from the college she first joined as a recruitment officer in 1989.
Ann Buller was not the only recipient representing the education sector. Bruce Kidd, the recently retired Principal of the University of Toronto Scarborough campus, was also on hand to accept his star. Like Centennial, UTSC opened in Scarborough in 1966 in response to the burgeoning Baby Boom generation that viewed postsecondary education as an imperative.
Other 2018 inductees included rap recording artist Kardinal Offishall; longtime Toronto Sun editorial cartoonist Andy Donato; Domenic Primucci, founder and president of Pizza Nova restaurants; Jean Kennedy Campbell, community advocate and Centennial’s first woman chair of the Board of Governors; and Rosa Chan, fundraiser and chair of countless community organizations.
This year was also the inaugural year of the Scarborough Walk of Fame Rising Star Awards. Four young people were honoured for their noteworthy early accomplishments:
Ravicha Ravinthiran – A volunteer dedicated to empowering young women by fostering a passion for the wonders of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Ashley Rose Murphy – A public speaker who raises awareness around the world about HIV/AIDS and inspires people to harness their own strength to overcome obstacles in their lives.
Yasmin Rajabi – An active volunteer who established UTSC’s first campus food bank and founded a non-profit that engages young women in politics and civic issues.
Delicia Raveenthrarajan – An author, musician, singer/songwriter who speaks to audiences across North America on leadership and mental health and takes a lead role in helping WE.org to raise funds for communities around the world.
Among the special guests were Toronto Mayor John Tory and David Onley, Scarborough Walk of Fame Honorary Chair and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. For the first time in the awards’ history, the induction ceremony took place off-site at Centennial College’s Event Centre, where guests enjoyed first-class food, hospitality and entertainment curated by the college’s outstanding hospitality students and staff. More than 20 million people view the stars set in the Scarborough Walk of Fame Court, located in the Scarborough Town Centre.