Paige Lawson
London Ontario
Age at time of award: 19

Motivated by experience, Paige Lawson has clear objectives: “I want to help reduce the stigma of mental illness so students are not afraid to acknowledge that they may struggle from anxiety and so teachers and staff can better understand and support students going through this.” Paige lead the DREAM project -- Direct Resources for Education Alternatives and Mental Health and, through her efforts, it has become a recognized support system within the Thames Valley District School Board and London District Catholic School Board. DREAM provides mental health workshops, personal resources, and education alternatives that equip London’s high school students with the tools to recognize, prevent and support mental health disorders and to ease their transition to post-secondary. Paige affirms, “Had this type of information been available to me, my school and life experience would have been drastically different”.

Raphael Leclaire
Pierrefonds, Quebec
Age at time of award: 19

Raphael’s Top 20 sponsor poignantly describes his impact: “Some people come into your life and leave as quietly as they appeared. Others show up when you least expect but mark your life like you could never imagine. Raphael Leclaire is such a person.” At 15, this star athlete quit all his extracurricular activities and postponed his education when diagnosed with relapsed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Yet Raphael found an outlet: inspired by former Montréal Canadien Saku Koivu, he dedicated himself to fundraising for cancer research. Raphael was the official spokesperson for “Pedal for Kids” in 2008, a $750,000 fundraiser. He started a letter campaign which, within a month, raised $50,000 for the Saku Koivu Foundation, and, not stopping there, Raphael raised another $33,000 and rode 100km with Lance Armstrong in the $2million dollar “Tour de Lance”.

Ivet Bell
Vancouver, BC
Age at time of award: 17

No wonder Kitsilano Secondary awarded Ivet their “Excellence in Service” Award! Her over 600 hours of outstanding service has impacted her own community and many others around the world. Elected President of the Vancouver District Student Council after one year as a student representative, Ivet initiated many projects, including “Beyond Borders”, which aids orphanages in Peru and Vietnam and drew the full support of Vancouver’s entire, 18-school student body. Ivet also founded “The Walk”. Now successfully replicated by other schools, this series of walkathons raises funds for a Namibian orphanage and enables students to volunteer abroad. At 16, Ivet’s accomplishments and academic excellence garnered her early acceptance to Harvard, Cornell and UBC, and her extensive capacity for leadership resulted in her election as the first Canadian representative on the National Youth Council of America.

Abid Virani
Guelph, Ontario
Age at time of award: 19

At the age of 17, Abid Virani co-founded Student Reach International (SRI) to provide opportunities for students to make contributions to the global community. Since then, SRI has raised over $50,000 for various causes including HIV/AIDS, women's empowerment and education. Abid's focus today is Reach Lesotho, an academic and leadership program that is producing a documentary with a creed that youth can make an impact. Abid enjoys writing and is working on a book that he hopes will be titled, "Finding Hope." After a profoundly moving visit with Abid to the Tsepong HIV/AIDS clinic in Lesotho, where they witnessed the impact of SRI, Mayor Brenda Halloran of Waterloo expresses her firm belief that Abid is “not only an agent for change, but… a catalyst for a movement of global citizenship”.