Boi-1da Inducted to Definitely Durham Hall of Fame

Celebrating and showcasing the success of former students and public education in our community, the Durham District School Board (DDSB) is proud to announce the 2023 honourees inducted into the Definitely Durham Hall of Fame.

The 2023 Definitely Durham inductees include:

• Stacey Jiggins, World-class volleyball player
• Matthew Samuels (‘Boi-1da’), Grammy Award-winning record producer and songwriter
• William Levine, Former DDSB Principal and philanthropist

The honourees were celebrated at the February 20, 2024 Board of Trustees Meeting. Following the meeting, a plaque for each inductee will be displayed on the Wall of Fame at the Durham District School Board Education Centre.

Quotes

“There are lots of thanks to give. I have my friends, my family, some teammates, and my children. As you heard earlier, obviously I retired back in 2013 to start a family, and low and behold they’re here to see mom get an award so that’s pretty cool. I want to congratulate first and foremost Bill and Matthew, this is a great honour that we’ll forever be attached from the 2023 Hall of Fame for Durham.”

• Stacey Jiggins

“I just want to thank God, thank my family, and friends who always supported me. I want to thank the DDSB and all the great teachers. I would love to talk too, and look into expanding on the music curriculum, modernize it, and keep these kids interested and engaged. That’s a lot of my focus these days. I would love to create something and build and continue to keep the kids interested and keep going.”

• Matthew Samuels

“I’d like to start by saying thank you to Valerie Koleski for nominating my father for this award. Thank you to the DDSB for recognizing my father’s contributions to serving this community and inducting him as one of the recipients of the Definitely Durham Award this year. To the other recipients honoured this evening, congratulations and thank you for everything you’ve done to honour this community. On behalf of my family and I, thank you again for recognizing my father for this award.”

• Victoria Levine, Bill’s daughter

“At the DDSB, excellence is defined and celebrated in many ways through graduation, through participation, and through the leadership in our students, as our students demonstrate each and every day. As a community of leaders and learners, it is important that we take the time to acknowledge and celebrate excellence within the Board. The three new inductees into the Definitely Durham Hall of Fame exemplify the DDSB’s character traits of teamwork, responsibility, respect, perseverance, optimism, kindness, integrity, honesty, and courage. That speaks volumes. They are positive role models for our students and our whole community. These three individuals have achieved outstanding success in realizing their goals and are from all parts of Durham Region. We are extremely pleased and proud to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of three extraordinary individuals who have lived and learned within the walls of our great schools. We are proud to say that they are Definitely Durham.”

• Christine Thatcher, Chair of the Board of Trustees

“To this year’s inductees, we say thank you for raising the bar high and providing us with examples and reminders of our collective goal that DDSB students can and will meet with great future success. We pay tribute to you as outstanding role models for our students of today and into the future. Thank you to the individuals who took the time to nominate someone to the Hall of Fame. You’ve presented the selection committee with a very difficult and unenviable task of selecting from the many nominations that we received.”

• Camille Williams-Taylor, Director of Education

Backgrounder

Stacey Jiggins (née Gordon) led a successful career as a professional volleyball player on both the Canadian National and Junior National Women’s volleyball teams. A DDSB graduate, Stacey attended Eastdale C.V.I. in Oshawa where she played basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball before her acceptance to Ohio State on a full athletic scholarship where she focused on her volleyball career. In addition to several awards and records, Stacey was inducted into the Ohio State Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. Her professional career lasted 10 seasons until 2013 when she retired to begin a family. Today, Jiggins lives in Durham Region and is a respected member of the Toronto Police Service/Durham Regional Police Service.

Matthew ‘Boi-1da’ Samuels is a Grammy Award-winning producer from Ajax. Matthew attended Pickering High School where he began producing music at 15. His talent was first showcased at the Battle of the Beatmakers – Canada’s Official Producer Competition. Today, he has partnered with professional artists including Eminem, Jay-Z, and most notably his long-time friend, Drake. The two worked on Drake’s ‘God’s Plan’ Album, which has warranted the status of 16 times multiplatinum. Matthew believes in helping youth and continues to support young musicians. He visits Pickering High School often and presents the Matthew Samuels Music Award accompanied with a bursary to a graduating student each year. Still living in Durham Region, Matthew now produces his music from home and is a very active and supportive father.

William “Bill” Levine, born in Oshawa, spent his early years working on his family farm in Whitby. He was a student at Woodcrest P.S., Ridgeway Sr. P.S., and R. S. McLaughlin C.V.I. before moving on to the University of Toronto where he earned his Bachelor of Physical and Health Education and Education degrees and later pursued his master’s degree in Exercise Physiology at Western University. Bill spent his years in school immersed in team sports and clubs. He had a passion for athletics and went on to coach many sports and was even drafted by the Canadian Football League’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1978. Throughout his career, Bill won many awards including an appointment to the Order of Ontario for his significant contributions to amateur sports and fitness. As an educator, he was known for going above and beyond and led redesigns of the library, technology classrooms, and sports facilities during his time at Eastdale C.V.I. In his final years, Bill worked with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. In honour of Bill’s contributions to the DDSB as an educator, the Levine family has established the William Sheppard Levine Memorial Bursary Fund, awarded to a graduating secondary student to continue Bill’s legacy of supporting students.

SOURCE Durham District School Board