York Catholic board honours distinguished alumni

Graduates who have made their mark in sportscasting, broadcasting, the National Basketball Association, education, nursing and cartoons are this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award honorees of the York Catholic District School Board.

Sportscaster Andi Petrillo is a familiar face to sports fans across Canada. She is seen on CBC Sports and is an analyst with OneSoccer. Petrillo has been honoured as best sports host with a Canadian Screen Award and is a graduate of St. Joan of Arc High School in Maple, Ont.

Andrew Nembhard, a graduate of Aurora’s St. Jerome’s Elementary School, currently plays for the Indiana Pacers of the NBA. He has represented Canada on the world stage at a number of FIBA competitions from the U-16 to the men’s national team at the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

James Anderson manages a number of Rogers TV studios in York and Durham Regions and has his hands on a number of productions as director, including The Parenting Show. The graduate of Our Lady Help of Christians Elementary and St. Robert’s High Schools is also on the board of directors of Georgina Cares.

John Calarco does extensive research in the Department of Cell and Systems Biology at the University of Toronto and is a Canada Research Chair in Neural RNA Biology. The assistant professor and researcher attended the University of Toronto and started a research lab at Harvard University. He attended St. Francis of Assisi and St. Peter Elementary Schools and graduated from Fr. Bressani High School in Woodbridge.

Daniele Rossi is a digital marketer and cartoonist who has been drawing comics most of his life, offering support to fellow stutterers through his “Stuttering is Cool” podcast and his online community Stutter Social. His book that shares the name of his podcast has also been used by speech therapists. He is a graduate of St. Elizabeth High School in Thornhill.

And Maria-Rosa La Neve is a clinical research nurse coordinator at Toronto’s Sick Children’s Hospital and RSV nurse coordinator. She is currently working in the Division of Infectious Diseases. La Neve attended St. Rene Goupil Elementary School, St. Michael Catholic Academy and graduated from St. Robert High School in Thornhill.