The 2026 Athena Scholarship luncheon Friday celebrates the next generation of women leaders. The event held at the St. Clair College Centre for the Arts honours four outstanding young women this year, recognizing their leadership and potential. This year’s recipients are Samantha Clements and Ashley Dunn from St. Clair College, and Simran Toor and Jennifer Yu from the University of Windsor. Thanks to the generosity of the program’s sponsors, each of the four award winners will receive an additional $1,000 increasing the value of each scholarship from $5,000 to $6,000. This year’s keynote speaker, Kristin Kennedy, CEO of Windsor regional hospital and Erie Shores Healthcare. For Ashley Dunn, setting an example for other young women is a critical consideration for all leaders. “So, obviously it is a great honor,” said Dunn. “I would say as a leader, though, I do look to inspire others to kind of take on their own leadership roles as well. I think leadership, especially as a woman, is creating opportunities for others to succeed. “I was Miss Windsor 2025, so I made sure that every fundraising event I went to, every initiative that I was a part of, I would gather a group of women and give them all their own leadership opportunities so that they can further advance their own developmental skills in the leadership world,” she said.
