Ryan Ouellette

I remember Josh Prentice being a busy bee at Conference. He always seemed to be helping someone with something. He was kind and never gave anyone the brush off. He really wanted to be part of a team. Admittedly we weren’t more than acquaintances, but I hope I can live up to the standard he set for volunteers within the APP. I am very proud to have received a token of appreciation named in his honor.

Every year when Caitlin McDiarmid makes her tearfilled speeches I am moved by her passion. If there was a “hardest working person in the APP” award she would win it every year. So to be chosen for this award by her makes it twice as special to me. It seems that every year she picks someone very important to her both personally and professionally, so when she started her speech last year, my stomach dropped as I quickly figured out who she was talking about. I like praise as much as anyone with an Instagram page but hearing her heartfelt words really had an impact on me. The feeling of receiving this award from Caitlin, someone who is very important in my life, is very hard to express in words. She is a friend and a colleague, and to know that she cared about the volunteer work I had done for the APP means more than I will ever be able to fully describe. Like a total goof I had to wade through a sea of the people I respect with tear-filled eyes to try and say thank you. I hope Caitlin could fully appreciate how amazingly awkward and appreciative I felt.

With every day I volunteer for the APP, every person I harass with a half formed idea, every deadline I barely make, and every issue I hammer into the ground with my opinions, I hope to make Josh and Caitlin proud. I guess I’m not allowed to slack off anymore.

Gus Diamond

I am one of the few attendees that can say I have been to every Conference. That being said it has been an honor to volunteer for the APP Conference for more than the past ten years. To be awarded the Josh Prentice Volunteer Award is simply the cherry on top of an already great sundae. It means that for all the years I have been helping, I’ve been doing something right. I look forward to volunteering for many years to come, each year welcoming new recipients to the club.