![\"Spirit](\"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/andrewware-1024x576.jpg\" "\\"andrewware\\"")
Spirit of Brock recipient Andrew Ware with his three-year-old daughter Aurora. <\/p><\/div>\n
Andrew Ware didn\u2019t need caffeine to keep him awake while studying at Brock University. His two daughters had all the energy he needed.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCoffee and energy drinks will only get you so far, but when the kids are excited, it gets you excited. I\u2019ve been living off of that for a while,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Ware, 35, was the Spirit of Brock Award grad student recipient for the Goodman School of Business Thursday during the third day of Spring Convocation.<\/p>\n The married father of two graduated with his Master of Business Administration more than a decade after completing his undergrad at Brock. After graduating the first time, Ware started working at local call-centre Sitel \u201cjust to pay back school debts,\u201d but quickly worked his way up the ranks. From there he became a financial adviser at Meridian Credit Union, spending four years before deciding to return to school for his MBA.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting a masters degree was something I always wanted to do. There\u2019s never a right time to do it, but my kids were still young enough so I figured let\u2019s do it while we still can,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n In the crowd Thursday were his wife, Wendy, and daughters Paisley, 6, and Aurora, 3, who joined him on stage when he was presented with the Spirit of Brock medal.<\/p>\n Ware said having the support of family and friends is crucial for older adults looking to return to school.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s critical. You need to have the ability to communicate, the ability to schedule.<\/p>\n Even if your kids don\u2019t know what you\u2019re doing, they\u2019re still that positive energy that\u2019s in your life,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n The St. Catharines resident has already landed a job as a senior enterprise analyst for Red-D-Arc in Grimsby, where he was hired after completing a co-op placement there during his time at Brock.<\/p>\n Ware\u2019s Spirit of Brock medal is a recognition of his leadership both at the school and in the community. While working toward his MBA, Ware was a student ambassador for the Certified Management Accountants of Ontario, Competition Coordinator for the Graduate Business Council, and a participant in the Brock Student Leaders Summit and MBA Games. Outside of Brock, he was an active member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce at the local, regional and national levels, where he notably won the award for being the most outstanding local president in Canada and helping families in need through Habitat for Humanity Niagara. Among other recognition and awards he has received, Ware was named one of the 40 Under Forty in Niagara and received the volunteer recognition award from the City of St. Catharines.<\/p>\n Also recognized with the undergrad Spirit of Brock Award Thursday afternoon was Anthony Marotta. <\/span>As a co-op student, Marotta\u2019s dedication led him to a full-time position at Spara Capital Partners. Among his many achievements at Brock, he was also inducted in to Beta Gamma Sigma, a premier business honour society where he represented Brock at a student leadership forum in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n \n
![\"Anthony](\"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/grad-spirit-2.jpg\" "\\"grad-spirit-2\\"")
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