James Brooks, 12
London, Ontario

You are a young Canadian child who has just learned about the magnificent Great Apes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and that they are endangered.  At the same time, you learn that kids just like you are going hungry in the DRC.  Now imagine educating other kids and working to solve these problems and helping related environmental and social problems. 

If you’re James Brooks, this is your mission.  To address the shortage of online ape conservation resources specifically for young people, James wrote, designed and maintains two websites:  www.apeaware.org and www.1000classrooms.org. Apeaware presents everything from scientific research to games and puzzles in a “kid-friendly” way. 1000classrooms engages Canadian students to raise funds used to buy eggs for students at the Kahuzi-Biega environmental school. Buying the eggs supports a poultry collective in the DRC run by the widows of park rangers who died protecting gorillas.

With donations as small as $3 per class, when James’ initiative reaches 1000 classrooms, over 20,000 kids will know about the plight of the gorillas, the people, and the threatened rainforest of the DRC.

Ariel Charney, 17

Montreal, QC

The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec’s Youth Medal is given to a few students every year who show academic promise and demonstrate both self-sacrifice and tangible, surpassing commitment within their school or community. No wonder Ariel holds this proud distinction. She has conducted stem cell research at the McGill Genome Center and contributed to a now published research project at the Weizmann Institute in Israel on the role of uterine dendritic cells in pregnancy. Ariel’s understanding of developmental disabilities goes far beyond the lab. She has seen firsthand the power of genetics plays. Ariel is the first International President of The Friendship Circle (FC), a non-profit across 7 countries that pairs teenagers with special needs children. With a new vision for FC, she launched a successful t-shirt campaign called “Imprint the World” to promote worldwide awareness of special needs and to help found the first FC Life Village in Canada.  With more than 500 t-shirts sold and an FC shop selling sweatshirts and hats, the campaign is well on its way to transforming a community centre that serves 200 to a fully-fledged campus reaching 1000 families.

The Lieutenant Governor of Quebec’s Youth Medal is given to a few students every year who show academic promise and demonstrate both self-sacrifice and tangible, surpassing commitment within their school or community. No wonder Ariel holds this proud distinction. She has conducted stem cell research at the McGill Genome Center and contributed to a now published research project at the Weizmann Institute in Israel on the role of uterine dendritic cells in pregnancy. Ariel’s understanding of developmental disabilities goes far beyond the lab. She has seen firsthand the power of genetics plays. Ariel is the first International President of The Friendship Circle (FC), a non-profit across 7 countries that pairs teenagers with special needs children. With a new vision for FC, she launched a successful t-shirt campaign called “Imprint the World” to promote worldwide awareness of special needs and to help found the first FC Life Village in Canada.  With more than 500 t-shirts sold and an FC shop selling sweatshirts and hats, the campaign is well on its way to transforming a community centre that serves 200 to a fully-fledged campus reaching 1000 families.

At the age of 14, Beth acted on her interest in Arctic marine mammals and began volunteering at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. She noticed that tissue samples, used to determine contaminant exposure in ringed seals, were acquired from Inuit harvests. Surely there could be a way to gain information that allowed animals to live? This fundamental idea motivated her to begin developing less-invasive methods which used samples of seal claws and whiskers.

Since then, Beth has conducted hundreds of hours of research which the scientific community recognizes as graduate-level. Her work has won provincial, national, and international recognition, including a second place award in the animal sciences category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. An avid researcher and speaker, Beth loves to share her passion for the Arctic and to inspire others to make a difference for the environment as a whole. She hopes she can empower other youth to take action for causes they care about.

Québec City, Québec

A dynamic leader, Roxane is unafraid of challenges. She is the youngest staff member of Garneau Travail Inc., the only fully student-run enterprise in Québec with an annual $50,000 budget. Based at Collège François-Xavier-Garneau, it supports the entrepreneurial ventures and career explorations of students aged 18-25 in three areas: web development, interior design and environmental micro-enterprise.  In less than a year, Roxane became General Director, and now oversees 25 student managers and 120 employees. As a member of the Association des Clubs Entrepreneurs Étudiants, which has 400 members in 10 countries, her group participates in several entrepreneurial conferences annually and has won many prestigious prizes. They are proud to have significantly reduced Garneau Travail’s carbon footprint.

In addition to full-time studies and the twenty hours a week spent in her role as General Director, Roxane mentors students who come from Mexico to spend a trimester at her college and ensures that their transition to school life in Québec City is smooth.  As well, Roxane devotes considerable time to working with physically and mentally challenged individuals through Adaptavie, a non-profit which promotes adaptive recreational sports activities for age groups 10 through 45. In 2006 Roxane received the City of Québec’s highest recognition for her outstanding volunteerism.