Dharani Raja Yarra is one of two Brock Co-op Students of the Year.

Two Brock co-op students are being honoured with a first for the University.

Jingwen Luo and Dharani Raja Yarra have been named Brock Co-op Students of the Year – the first time the Co-op Programs office has recognized co-op students for outstanding academic and work term achievements.

Jingwen Luo has also been named Brock Co-op Student of the Year.

Luo is in her final year of the Business Administration program. She is currently at a partner university in Germany, working on a concurrent science degree in management.

She has had co-op placements with Rugby Canada, Siemens Canada, Ltd., Hydro One and most recently at Henkel.

She has also raised money for international famine relief, maintains an average above 80 per cent and has served as a communications assistant in the co-op office, maintaining the co-op programs Facebook page.

Yarra is in his final year in the Earth Sciences program. He has completed work terms at the Canadian Hydrographic Service, St. Andrew’s Goldfields, Ltd., and most recently as an assistant geologist with Alamos Gold in Turkey.

While in Turkey, Yarra learned Turkish and travelled to remote parts of the country, blogging about his adventures all the while.

Yarra has been a mentor for other co-op students and has helped promote Brock’s co-op programs at University events, including O-Day.

Outside of school and work, he participates in many sport activities.

“These well-rounded students were selected based on a combination of their educational success, co-op work term accomplishments, extracurricular involvement and commendable personality traits,” said Christina Butler, career consultant in the Co-op Programs office.

The awards coincide with Co-operative Education Week, which runs March 18 to 22. The week celebrates the role of co-op placements in education and co-op student achievements.

Brock has more than 2,000 students enrolled in co-op programs, making it the third largest co-op school in the province and the fifth largest in Canada.

To mark Co-operative Education Week, the Co-op Programs office will host Cheers for Brock Co-op on Thursday, March 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Skybar Lounge, where Luo and Yarra will be presented with their awards.

A Toronto co-op social will also be held on Wednesday, March 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. for all co-op students on a work term in the GTA. The event will be held at the Madison House, 14 Madison Ave., Toronto.