Jaxson Khan
Mississauga, ON
Age at time of award: 18

Co-founded by Jaxson, The Student Voice Initiative is a national movement that aims to get students more involved in the educational decision-making process.

Jaxson saw that only Ontario and New Brunswick currently engage students to represent their peers on a legislative level. His initiative’s goal is to empower student representatives at every level of educational decision-making, in every province across Canada, so that policymakers will have to seek the input of students on matters that concern them.

Jaxson is an established social activist and has spoken before audiences of over 5,000 youth. Currently the CEO of the Ontario Student Trustees' Association, and past President of the Gay-Straight Alliance in his high school, Jaxson now advises AstraZeneca Canada's Young Health Program, advocating for youth mental health nation-wide.

Joseph Linzon
Toronto, ON
Age at time of award: 18

Joseph became inspired to evoke change in the world after a volunteer trip to a small village in Peru in South America.

He realized the people of this small community, and many others like it, have very limited access to electricity. “As an individual takes a step, kinetic energy is produced. Knowledge of this simple concept led me to think up the idea for PowerSole. [A shoe] that converts kinetic energy into electrical energy that can be used to charge essential electronic devices like phones and LED flashlights.”

The energy produced from the PowerSole is ‘clean energy’ because it is self-generated.

Joseph believes his invention could help other social initiatives such as the One Laptop Per Child endeavour that provides 2 million laptops to students and teachers in 42 countries, some of which may have little to no access to electricity ports.

Kelly Lovell
Kitchener - Waterloo, ON
Age at time of award: 19

“I saw a need in my community, to encourage youth volunteerism and work towards transforming common stigmas youth have regarding community service,” says Kelly.

So as a City Youth Ambassador, she successfully launched a youth volunteerism campaign, Passion for Progress (P4P) that was the first of its kind in her community and included an inter-school fundraising competition.

Kelly also established Dollars for Dreams (D4D) to raise money to save the lives of children in developing countries.

With the government matching the money Kelly and her team raised, $4,000 was contributed to D4D’s efforts.

Kelly’s accomplishments don’t stop there. In 2011 she was named the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest Rogers Woman of The Year. She is also a recipient of the Ontario Newcomer Champion Award which is given by the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship & Immigration.

Michael Peters
Vancouver, BC
Age at time of award: 19

Michael’s story begins with his grandmother who passed away as a result of poor circulation caused by a blood clot after a debilitating stroke.

Motivated, Michael decided to take action. He designed a wheelchair adaptation to help prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients confined to a wheelchair, as well as to avoid scar tissue build-up post surgery and speed up recovery time through improved circulation in the legs.

By using cost effective materials to build his invention, the device can be easily accessible to those who truly need it.

Michael estimates close to 80,000 people have been reached through his invention. Although he isn’t looking for significant praise of his efforts, Michael says, “I learned that the value of ones' work does not lie in accolades, but in the hearts of others.”