AWARDS : Five Gee-Gees named RSEQ All-Stars, Ondo wins Leadership Award

The Gee-Gees women's rugby team had five members named to the RSEQ first team of all-stars on Wednesday, ahead of the team's seventh straight appearance in the conference championship game. 

Fifth-year Gee-Gee Alexandra Ondo was named to the all-star squad for the fourth time in her career and also was named the winner of the conference award for Leadership and Community Engagement.

Anna Dodge, Maya Montiel, Maddy Grant, and Claire Gallagher join Ondo on the 2021 All-Star team. It is the second all-star award for Montiel and Grant, while Dodge and Gallagher are first-time all-stars.

Ondo led the RSEQ conference in tries scored in the regular season, establishing a career high in her final season with nine tries scored. Her points total of 45 was second in the conference, behind only Gallagher who notched 64 points on three tries, three penalties, and twenty converts.

Ondo also becomes the third player in Gee-Gees women's rugby history to be named a conference all-star four times in their career, joining Alison MacCormack and Emily Babcock. Ondo was the uOttawa Biosteel Athlete of the Week on October 12 and was named match MVP three times this season.

Off the field, Ondo's career resume is equally impactful. In spring of 2021 she graduated from her undergraduate program with a BSocSc with a Minor in Global Studies and her return to the Gee-Gees for her final season in 2021 meant the return of a key team leader.

Starting in 2019, Ondo has been a Recruitment Relations and Diversity Liaison for the Gee-Gees rugby program where her work helped to ensure the creation of a Task Force for Equity and Diversity. Although these began as initiatives internal to the rugby team, they have since expanded to create real change on campus and in the community. Examples include Team Workshops on Anti-Black Racism, Indigenous Lives Matter and Understanding International Conflicts,  and Partnering with Ashbury College's Pluralism Project in order to foster an inclusive school environment that builds on the strength of its diversity.  

Ondo is also a member of uOttawa's Gender Equity Committee where she has volunteered many hours to meet with administration and staff to share lived experience, suggest strategic policy changes, and push for further collection of research data around gender inequalities.

In 2021, she took on a new project to head a Skills and Leadership Development Program that is geared towards young girls in lower income areas who would not normally be exposed to rugby.