A full circle moment for a highly regarded educator.
Joe Tersigni was given the National Leadership Award by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic High School in Guelph Friday, in front of a packed gymnasium at the school.
"It was a total shock," he told GuelphToday when asked his reaction when he found out he was receiving the award he first created in 1991.
"I'm so humbled by it. Usually, I'm down with the students and getting things organized. When they called me and said they wanted to present it to me, it was just unbelievable. I was over the moon. I was just so proud to be able to accept an award like this, and all the work that went into it with the students."
He said he accepted it on behalf of the students who helped put it together.
Students like the one who first inspired the idea, when they asked Tersigni in a history class one day to bring the leaders he talked about in class to the school.
The school said the award recognizes important members of society, and allows students to share the company of these people.
Tersigni talked to the crowd about previous award winners.
Winners like Lincoln Alexander, the longtime University of Guelph chancellor, first Black Canadian MP and former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Hockey heroes like Mats Sundin and Lourdes grad and Maple Leafs assistant coach Manny Malholtra. The late frontman for The Tragically Hip Gord Downie, Olympic champion Penny Oleksiak and politicians such as then-MP, now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Paul Martin.
There was a common theme when talking about these past winners. It's that Tersigni took a lesson from each one when they spoke at the school, about leadership, about life, about following your dreams and remembering your roots.
Tersigni, true to form as an educator, said he wanted to turn his speech into a teachable moment.
"I didn't want to get into a long speech, and I even cut a little bit out," he said. "I just wanted to be short and give a certain message about what it's like, what I learned from all these speakers and what they told our kids."
It was the first leadership award handed out since before the pandemic.
After the presentation, Tersigni and special guests were taken to a wall filled with photos and mementos from historical moments at the school.
Conveniently, the wall that now bares a plaque honouring Tersigni, is located just steps from the very classroom he taught in.
That's not all. The school will soon unveil a plaque near a Vimy Ridge tree sapling that was donated to the school, and is now growing into a tree on the school grounds.
Tersigni, a former broadcast journalist, began teaching at Bishop Macdonell before transitioning to Our Lady of Lourdes. He is now a trustee with the Wellington Catholic District School Board.
But while he is out of the classroom, a moment like this won't soon be forgotten.
"It's a defining moment in my life," he said.
