TheAlexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities, Mayor Bill Euille andCity Council members honored the ACPD’s 2010 scholarship winners last Tuesdayduring a reception at City Hall.
Theannual awards recognize an outstanding Alexandria student and an advocateworking in the community to ensure equal opportunities and access for personswith disabilities.
Thisyear’s awardees are Patricia Biava, recipient of the Gerry Bertier Scholarshipsponsored by HeimLantz CPAs, and Patricia Mason Beattie, posthumous winner ofthe John Duty Collins III Outstanding Advocate for Personswith Disabilities Award.
BertierScholarship winner Patricia Biava, a senior at T. C. Williams High School, willattend Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale to study Culinary Arts.The Bertier Scholarship is awarded, based on merit, to a student with adisability who is seeking post-secondary education. The award honors theaccomplishments of T. C. Williams graduate Gerry Bertier, who became severelydisabled after he co-captained the Titans in their fabled 1971 football season.
The John Duty Collins III Outstanding Advocate for Personswith Disabilities Award was established in 1989 in memory of thefounder and Vice Chair of the ACPD. Patricia Mason Beattie, posthumously namedthis year’s John Duty Collins III Outstanding Advocate, was an Alexandriaresident for nearly 15 years and an exemplary leader for disability rights atthe local, state, and national levels for more 30 years.
