From mentoring groups to building schools, these award recipients seek to further understanding and education. Follow the links below to read profiles about more winners.
Youth in Motion (www.youth-in-motion.ca) is the non-profit organization that runs the Top 20 Under 20 awards program. A national panel selects the winners. Their ages are listed as what they were on Dec. 31, 2010.
Full list of winners:
- Ivneet Bains, 19, Surrey, B.C.
- Jennifer Cloutier, 19, Ottawa
- Darren Cole, 16, Toronto
- Corey Cook, 17, Winnipeg
- Sameer Dhar, 17, Edmonton
- Megan Fultz, 19, Winnipeg
- Tiffany Harrington, 17, Oshawa
- Mohsin Khan, 19, Toronto
- Ben Kim, 18, Mississauga, Ont.
- Rita-Clare Leblanc, 16, Halifax
- Michael Lim, 19, West Vancouver, B.C.
- Yale Michaels, 19, Winnipeg
- Adam Moscoe, 19, Ottawa
- Madison Schill, 17, Oshawa, Ont.
- Corey Sherwood, 19, Brampton, Ont.
- Rui Song, 15, Saskatoon
- Grant Sparling, 18, Blyth, Ontario
- Caitlin Stockwell, 17, Victoria, B.C.
- Jacinthe Veillette, 19, Saint-Tite, Que.
- Anoop Virk, 17, Coquitlam, B.C.
Ivneet Bains, 19, Surrey, B.C.
Ivneet Bains’s parents immigrated from India to Canada in 2007 to help their only child improve his possibilities, but the road to scoring perfect marks in high school in Surrey, B.C., while inspiring other students was bumpy at first - including being bullied for his accent.
Today, the Bachelor of Commerce major at UBC’s Sauder School of Business is reaching hundreds of students through Math4Me, an innovative tutoring and mentoring program that began in Surrey and is expanding to Vancouver this fall.
Aided by about ten other university or high school students who act as mentors, and with the help of community leaders who serve as guest speakers, Mr. Bains says Math4Me helps Grade 3 to 12 students improve their math, science and English skills, and links them with volunteer work to better themselves and the world.
“We try to inspire students and help them boost their self-esteem from every single perspective that we can … to give them that ah-ha moment about what they want to be in their life and … help them contribute to global issues,” says Mr. Bains, who founded Math4Me after tutoring students for three years.
After entering Panorama Ridge High School in Surrey, he gained confidence volunteering with Surrey’s parks department, joining the school’s drama program and becoming a star batsman in the B.C. Mainland Cricket League.
Although in Grade 12 he earned 100 per cent in math, calculus, physics, biology and chemistry, and in 2009 received the Governor General’s Academic Medal for Excellence, he’s most proud of his 90 per cent in the English provincial exam. His academic and volunteer prowess earned him scholarships from UBC and various organizations that will more than cover his university education.
Despite his busy life, and commuting an hour-and-a-half each way from Surrey to UBC in Vancouver, Mr. Bains sees no end to his work as a “social entrepreneur.” After university graduation in 2013 and possibly earning an MBA, he hopes to focus on philanthropic work, and integrate Math4Me with his passion for finance and economics.
Rita-Clare Leblanc, 16, Halifax
At Christmas in 2009, Rita-Clare LeBlanc opened an envelope from her uncle and aunt and discovered they’d given her $77.12. Their expectation? Take the money and do some good.
“When I saw $77.12, I felt it wasn’t complete. I wanted to round it up and create more money,” she says.
Since founding MYST, or Maritime Youth Standing Together, the 16-year-old has gone on to inspire 30 other young people to raise more than $13,500. In one case, they gathered kids into the local church hall, spent the day playing games and doing crafts, and charged the parents $25 a child. A youth charity concert brought in another $4,000.
Working with African Sky, a non-profit organization in Ohio, the money will go toward building a school in Mali, Africa.
