Student Services
TD Scholarships for Community Leadership
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TD is pleased to announce the recipients of the
2012 TD Scholarships for Community Leadership
valued at up to $70,000 each. From across the country, these young
Canadians have made a meaningful and lasting difference in their
communities. All of these extraordinary young people share one
common belief - one person can indeed make a difference. TD Scholarship Recipients
Leah Bae Leah is motivated by youth engagement and social activism. As president of the Vancouver District Students' Council, she represents 58,000 students in acting and speaking out on issues critical to the student population in her district. As part of her mandate, she organized a youth forum to respond to the Stanley Cup riot. The youth perspective contributed an important aspect to the city's final report. She has mentored girls in grade 7 through the YWCA to guide them in their transition to high school. She is also the principal violinist in her school's orchestra and is an advocate for the rights of minority groups. An avid promoter of the role of young people in the democratic process, she has been involved in various political campaigns and plans to pursue a career in international relations or public policy. 
David Beisel David has a passion for music and performance. He is the president of the Youth Theatre Coalition of Owen Sound, a non-profit theatre organization founded by students to provide a forum for youth to learn and perform. The organization is run entirely by individuals under the age of 20 and he has participated as a writer, director, musician and choreographer. David plans to pursue a career in musical theatre performance and direction.
Claire Edwards Alarmed by the environmental damage caused by disposable water bottles, Claire decided to do something about it. Along with a friend, she began an initiative to replace disposable plastic bottles with refillable bottles at her high school. In just a few months, approximately six thousand bottles were diverted from landfills. Continuing with this passion for water conservation, Claire founded an Amnesty International Club at her school and led a letter-writing campaign to promote the provision of clean drinking water on First Nations reservations. Since 2010, Claire has been inspired by and involved with the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. She works as a digital imaging specialist at Best Buy and is also active as a Legislative Page. Claire plans to pursue a career as an international lawyer.
Abby Emdin As a member of a close, caring community, Abby learned by example to make the welfare of others a priority. In 2010, she co-founded World Without Worms in order to raise awareness and funds for school-based deworming programs in developing countries. The initiative has raised over $16,000 to date with chapters at schools and universities in Ontario and British Columbia. Abby plans to pursue her interests in international medicine and research.
Christopher Grouchy With a passion to empower youth to speak up, Chris created the Elementary Advisory Committee, providing over 20,000 ambitious students with a forum to discuss issues in their education system. Through his role as student trustee, he has also lead over 4 conferences, inspiring youth to get involved in their community. As a means to allow those who are silent to take a stand for their beliefs, Chris established a student-driven magazine in his community called “Leading to the Future”. As Public President of the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, he consults regularly with educational stakeholders and manages provincial initiatives with other Student Trustees. Chris is also the lead-guitarist in his band, Vinyl Skies, and performs at fundraisers within local communities. Chris hopes to pursue a career in International Law.
Jennifer Hao With the belief that sustainable change starts by adapting the right mindset, Jennifer’s goal is to inspire and empower other youth to give back. Jennifer co-founded the Burnaby Youth Sustainability Network, a unique district-wide organization in which schools across Burnaby collaboratively foster environmental stewardship in their communities. She is also a key driver behind hosting her city’s annual student sustainability conference. Jennifer also co-founded Youth4Tap, which successfully introduced water-bottle refilling stations into schools across the district. She is the Vice President of her school’s Amnesty International club and contributes to several other youth-driven organizations and events and also takes great interest in art, film production, and youth entrepreneurship.
Sajjad Jaffery Following an eye-opening trip to Pakistan, Sajjad was inspired to start a community based organization called the Dunbarton Peace Project which promotes peace and social justice. The group has over 100 supporters and works to increase awareness and raise funds for impoverished global communities. It has built ties with organizations such as Free the Children, Pennies for Peace and KIVA micro-financing and has also teamed up with a local elementary school and York University. Sajjad is the co-president of his school’s environment group, where he has helped to start many initiatives including an outdoor classroom, butterfly garden and recycling programs. He is also currently the head delegate of his Model United Nations chapter, has volunteered in his local hospital and is an avid sports fan. Sajjad hopes to continues to pursue a passion as a humanitarian and aims to become an endocrinologist.
Marc-André Jean-Montenegro In his first year of Cégep, Marc-André launched a fair-trade project at Sorel-Tracy college. The project was affiliated with Oxfam and was the first organized in a Cégep. It all started with a simple booth and an awareness campaign, but it eventually led to the opening of an actual store in December 2011. Marc-André is also the president of his Cégep's student council, where he is mentoring a new generation of student leaders. He also belongs to a champion Reach for the Top team and sits as a student rep on his Cégep's administrative council. He is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Youth Medal and plans to study business administration to pursue work on social economy initiatives.
Benjamin Jones After overcoming adversity and a number of learning challenges, Ben wanted to establish a safe and supportive space for all teens. He received funding from the Healthy Communities Fund and his municipality to establish the Youth Belleville Centre; a drop-in program to give Belleville youth a positive way to express themselves, meet new people, and find a place where they belong in a setting that is free from prejudice, bullying and violence while encouraging healthy choices and promoting community engagement. He is co-chair of Change the World Youth Challenge Committee Belleville, and a member of student council. More recently Ben has created an inclusion club at his school to promote acceptance among all students.
Joey Loi Combining his interests in entrepreneurship, youth engagement and ending poverty, Joey founded "Turn the Page", an incorporated non-profit organization that hosts conferences, presentations, and workshops to bring together students, schools, and NGOs to support education initiatives in developing nations. He has also been a long serving member of the Mayor's Youth Task Force in Markham; an organization which advances opportunities for young people and actively contributes to a thriving youth community. After his experiences on the Students on Ice Arctic expedition, Joey has become an avid environmental activist through his work with the Youth Environmental Network of York Region. Joey's dream is to create innovative solutions for the world's most concerning issues through social entrepreneurship.
Samantha Manner Combining her passion for the environment and the belief that everyone can create positive change, Samantha founded the Green Group at her school. The group now runs a number of initiatives including planting trees on school grounds, starting a composting program, establishing a kitchen garden for the culinary class, and running a single-stream recycling awareness program. Samantha has run track for five years and enjoys swimming. She plans to pursue a career in veterinary medicine at the University of Guelph.
Charles-Auguste Marois Charles founded the K Club, a student offshoot of the Kiwanis Club. His chapter organized a used clothing pick-up drive and later had a garment try-out session for underprivileged children in Thetford Mines. They also organized a winter carnival for kids from five local grade schools. The group also contributed to the organization of Family Day, an event that brought in some 3,000 people!
Melissa Morrison As a member of the Namgis First Nation of Alert Bay, Melissa founded Four Directions, her school’s first ever Aboriginal Culture group. The group plans to host the school’s first Aboriginal Cultural Day Celebration and hopes to encourage schools across Vancouver to host their own celebration. Melissa is also co-president of the Compassionate Leadership Club, which runs an annual food drive and has raised over $3,000 to build a well in China. Melissa recently completed a documentary on First Nations youth and is an avid athlete, who participates in volleyball, basketball, cross country and track and field in both her school and local community.
Kali O'Dell When there is no one to speak for the victims of drunk driving accidents, Kali has stepped up to the task. She has shared the story of her own family’s experience through extensive public speaking, MADD public service announcements and a MADD school assembly program. She also co-founded Teens Against Drunk Driving (TADD) at her school.
Eva Olynyk Eva has instituted a wide range of new programs to give students a greater voice in school and community affairs, adding a homeroom representation system to the school, starting a student advocacy system to mediate problems between students and teachers, and reviving the position of student representatives on the school board and local government bodies. She has worked with the community to host influential speakers for various events, including the all candidates’ debates for both the last federal election and the 2011 school board trustees’ election.
Aaron Stevens Aaron is dedicated to helping make Nova Scotia a safer place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, and helping other youth get resources and support to fight homophobia and transphobia in their schools and communities. Aaron worked with The Youth Project to connect Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in schools across the province, and has lead two very successful GSA conferences, and established various resources for GSAs. Aaron has been a co-chair of his school’s GSA for the past 3 years. He is also very active in several other anti-bullying, health promotion and diversity initiatives. Aaron is a Metro Co-Premier for the Nova Scotia Secondary School Students Association (NSSSA), and hopes to pursue a career in human rights and international affairs.
Donovan Taplin In his small island town, Donovan is a champion of community development. Following learning expeditions to the Polar Regions, Donovan started a community environmental group, the Green Island Society. The group has done clean-ups, tree plantings, and presentations to local schools on Bell Island. In Grade 9, to counter the poor reputation of youth in the community, Donovan joined friends in co-founding Team Teen, a youth for social justice group. Through his involvement at Radio Bell Island, he is active in improving a sense of community through radio, acting as a lead broadcaster and producer. Donovan also enjoys being active with Student Council and the Newspaper Club and is a member of the Students on Ice Alumni Delegation for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.
Chloé Trépanier Breaking the isolation of young LGBTs, demystifying homosexuality and combating homophobia are among the various objectives guiding Chloé's community involvement. During the 2010-11 school year, Chloé was among a group of students who brought their college's sexual diversity committee back to life. Before that time, three separate LGBT committees had gone out of existence. After starting out as the committee's treasurer, Chloé is now its chairperson. She is also very involved with Jeunesse Lambda, an organization run for and by gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning youths from the Montreal area. At Lambda, she works as both treasurer and moderator. In high school, Chloé volunteered as a tutor in a homework assistance program, and represented her class in the graduates' committee.
Darren Touch Darren has dedicated himself to bringing awareness to and educating youth about social issues so they can play a real part in changing the world. He has brought new energy and attracted new participants to a number of his school’s clubs. He initiated a human rights film festival to the school’s Amnesty International group and, as co-president, doubled the numbers of active participants in his school’s environmental group. He also serves as co-chairperson of the Youth of Distinction Awards and Assistant Secretary of the Khmer Youth Association to promote the idea of youth empowerment in our society. Darren plans to pursue a career in International Relations, with the goal of eventually working for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Paige Zwicker Sparked with a passion to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged children, Paige initiated and participated in various programs in her local area, including a Leadership Development Program focused on giving at-risk, disadvantaged youth the opportunity to realize their natural strengths and previously unidentified potential, enabling them to develop into strong, positive leaders in their community. In 2009, Paige volunteered with Free Flight, a non-profit organization in rural Brazil that provides education and skills training for the poorest of Brazil’s citizens. In addition to her work with children, Paige is also Co-President of her students’ council, organizes many fundraisers for local and international charity organizations, volunteers at local food banks and soup kitchens, and sits on the Volunteer Board of her local Community Center. Paige plans to pursue a career in paediatric medicine with the goal of providing care to children in underserviced areas.
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