LSSU student Will Dautremont presented with Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award
SAULT STE. MARIE — William Dautremont, a Coast Guard reservist and student of Lake Superior State University, was recently honored with the Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award.
The Coast Guard Station Sault Ste. Marie presented the award during a ceremony on Oct. 26. The award was created to commemorate Amy Ignatowski, a member of the United State Coast Guard and an LSSU alumni, who died in 2008.
Ignatowski was training to become a pilot and was working towards flying her own helicopter for the Coast Guard. She served briefly at USCG Air Station Humboldt Bay before attending aviation school at Elizabeth City in North Carolina for aircraft maintenance technician training.
After training, Ignatowski moved to Corpus Christi, where she worked as an aviation maintenance technician.
After her death in an accident in May 2008, Air Station Corpus Christi Command awarded Ignatowski her wings posthumously, giving her the title of Petty Officer Amy Lynn Ignatowski, AMT3.
As a way to honor the memory of their daughter, Ignatowski's parents, Paul and Robin Ignatowski, worked with LSSU to create a memorial fund in her name. Every year since 2010, an LSSU student who works with the United States Coast Guard is awarded the Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award.
“The event reminds us of Amy’s lasting legacy in the community and to our service," said Interim LSSU President Lynn Gillette. "Despite the tragic circumstances, Amy, her family, and LSSU have positively impacted and changed the lives of many Coast Guard members forever.”
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Dautremont, who has not announced any post-school plans yet, is a junior studying social science and secondary education at LSSU. He is also a member of the local Coast Guard post, which is something he said he is very passionate about as it helps him feel closer to the person who inspired him, his mother.
Dautremont's mother served in the Coast Guard for about nine years in the 1990s. Wanting to find a career that was as rewarding to him as it was to his mother, he joined the Coast Guard after she died in 2022.
“I am very grateful to receive this award. I appreciate and understand Amy’s love of service of the Coast Guard and for her family," said Dautremont. “My mother, who passed away in 2022, was my personal hero and joining the Coast Guard was an easy choice to follow in her footsteps and to fulfill the legacy she left for me.”
In order to be chosen, applicants must be a student of LSSU and have served or will serve in the Coast Guard, as well as meet a GPA requirement and complete a written response to a question. All applicants must answer the question, "What does it mean to live life?"
Dautremont’s response: “To live life would be to not live in a world of regrets, and to live free of self-doubt from obstacles that may come up, and let them only be obstacles and keep moving forward through life.”
Along with the award, recipients also receive $500 not attached to any scholarship, grant or other requirements.
— Contact Brendan Wiesner: BWiesner@Sooeveningnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: LSSU student Will Dautremont presented with Amy Ignatowski Memorial Award
