Cindy Fernandes receiving the CNA-Q Leadership Award
College of the North Atlantic-Qatar (CNA-Q) hosted its 10th Annual Rewarding Excellence Awards ceremony, recognising 85 students for exceptional performance during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Dr Ken MacLeod, president, CNA-Q, was joined by Dr Latifa al-Houty, vice-chair of CNA-Q’s executive committee, Ahmed Ali al-Mowlawi, director of administration, Qatar Petroleum, representatives of industry, faculty and family members.
“Since 2002, CNA-Q has been educating the leaders of tomorrow,” said Dr MacLeod while explaining that to date, over 2,000 students have graduated.
The ceremony saw students from each of CNA-Q’s programme areas honoured for academic achievement and acknowledged for leadership within the college and community.
Dr Latifa al-Houty with a 10-year scholarship winner
In addition to Honour Society Awards, this year also marks a record number of scholarships being granted to winning students, including the Highest Achiever Scholarship, EFL Awards from CNA-Canada, CNA-Q School Scholarships, Merit Awards, Student Representative Council Scholarships, the Glen Cameron Memorial Scholarship and ExxonMobil Qatar scholarships.
Presented by Dr al-Houty, the CNA-Q Scholarship for Highest Achiever was awarded to Dana al-Hajri, student of the Business Administration – accounting programme, who concluded the 2011-2012 academic year with a weighted average of 97.03% and has maintained perfect  4.0 grade point average since enrolling in 2010 – an accomplishment that qualifies her for membership in the CNA-Q Honour Society.
Her impressive academic performance – while carrying a full course load every semester – includes grades of 100% in 13 courses, including Mathematics of Finance, Managerial Accounting, Qatari Business Law and Microeconomics.
In keeping with the college’s 10th anniversary in Doha, a new award was announced. The Decade of Excellence Scholarship was awarded to the top 10 Qatari academic achievers.
“Everybody should be proud of what has been achieved today,” said Dr al-Houty, who presented the new scholarships.
Ali al-Haidous, director of Business Support at Qatar Foundation and alumnus of CNA-Q, spoke about his time at CNA-Q as a high point of his professional and personal life.
Speaking on behalf of the honoured students, Cindy Fernandes, winner of an ExxonMobil Scholarship and sole recipient of the CNA-Q Leadership Award, spoke about the importance of CNA-Q students and to the State of Qatar.