AWARD RECIPIENTS AND FINALISTS

Cégep de Jonquière

Students committed to encouraging the creation of short films

In a desire to help promote the cinematic talents of young people, a group of students decided to establish a short film competition entitled De l'Âme à l'Écran. Set up eight years ago by students in the media arts and technology program at the Cégep de Jonquière, the competition, which is the only one of its kind at the college level, succeeds every year in prompting around 60 teams to create their own short film...

Champlain regional college

Students committed to making the environment a top priority

One of the most surprising things about the ECO-St. Lo committee is without doubt the incredible diversity of its members. The group is of course composed of students and teachers, but then there are also members of the support staff and administration. Together, they make up one of the College’s most enterprising committees. In only two years, they have succeeded in using their creativity and ironclad leadership to make...

Cégep de Jonquière

Students committed to using live broadcasting to promote college sport

The Sport en direct project was thought up by a team of students with a passion for journalism, television and radio, all enrolled in the media arts and technology program. Because the project involves presenting, in real time, audio and video streaming of the college’s sports activities, its members have to show exemplary rigour and availability...

Vanier college

A student committed to making headway in planetary science

It was after watching a fascinating documentary on television that Santiago Paiva began taking a keen interest in Earth-crossing asteroids, in other words those whose orbit passes close to that of the Earth. In view of the shortcomings in the interpretation of the data collected by present-day astronomical instruments, he developed an artificial intelligence system using a...

Cégep de Sherbrooke

Students committed to rallying the community around pressing social issues

The SAVON project, a highly original event that is at once philosophical, political and artistic, was dreamed up and organized in 2010 by a group of eight students with a steadfast desire to bring about change within the Sherbrooke community. Designed in the form of a public forum, the event gave over 175 college students the chance to voice their opinions and showcase their creativity during 90 workshops and...

Collège François-Xavier-Garneau

Students committed to offering services adapted to student parents

Gabrielle Blais and Émilie Tremblay, two full-time students in the youth and adult correctional intervention program, are fully aware of the realities of students who are also parents as they themselves are the mothers of young children. After noticing the lack of available resources to meet the specific needs of student parents, they decided to make a difference...

Collège François-Xavie-Garneau

Students committed to helping the community reap the benefits of utilitarian cycling

In the fall of 2009, a group of students at Collège F.-X.-Garneau set about establishing a solidarity cooperative aimed at promoting cycling as a means of transportation. Eighteen months later, in March 2011, the Roue-Libre bike workshop, the first of its kind to be set up at a Québec college institution, officially opened its doors...

Cégep du Vieux-Montréal

A student committed to safeguarding ecosystems and to social well-being

For Nicolas Chatel-Launay, “the problems faced by our society are far too complex to be solved by adopting a single approach. Multidisciplinarity is crucial.” This profound conviction prompted Nicolas to get involved in various student associations and political bodies so as to defend the causes he feels strongly about. With his firm belief in an interconnection between social well-being and...

Collège d'Alma

A student committed to surpassing his own limits and guiding others

“Because I consider myself fortunate to be a naturally determined person, I’ve been trying to enable as many people as possible to benefit from my newly acquired experience as a leader before going on to university.” To do so, Luca Fortin developed a lecture program that focuses on leadership, motivation and personal success that he presents to Grade 4, 5 and 6 elementary students...

Collège Lionel-Groulx

A student committed to mobilizing youth by favouring dialogue and cooperation

“Even when I was quite young, I cherished the desire to take action and find genuine solutions to global issues,” recounts Jacques-Arnaud Vanier. As well as being committed to the integration of people suffering from an intellectual disability as head coach of a swim team competing in the Québec Special Olympics, he also joined the fight against child exploitation with Children’s Care International...

Cégep de Sainte-Foy

Students committed to the search for a cure for Parkinson’s disease

With their long-standing passion for the sciences, Alexandre Lemieux and Reda Bensaidane hope to one day work in the field. However, they decided to get involved right away in the search for a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Because it is believed that the disease is caused by the loss of neurones that produce dopamine, an essential neurotransmitter that regulates movement...

Dawson College

A student committed to bringing about positive and lasting change here and elsewhere

“I have always possessed a strong desire to get involved at both the local and international levels,” admits Arielle Elkrief. From organizing a recycling campaign in Montréal to coordinating a humanitarian aid project for orphan children in Uganda, as well as the tutoring she does in science and mathematics, Arielle is known for her ability to inspire her peers and give them a taste for in turn getting involved...

Cégep de Rivière-du-Loup

A student committed to promoting the music scene in more rural areas

Performing in public is an essential part of a musician’s career path. Unfortunately, in more rural areas, they are given very few opportunities to take to the stage. When Karine Paradis was in Secondary 5 she decided to remedy the situation by establishing La relève en musique, a benefit concert that raises funds for the Festival-concours de musique in Rivière-du-Loup and features artists between the ages of 16 and 21...

Cégep de Sherbrooke

Students committed to sharing the history of music

A pedagogical exchange project organized in 2008 between clarinet students at the Cégep de Sherbrooke and the University of Plattsburgh paved the way for an innovative multidisciplinary show called Un vent d'histoire. The end result of several months of planning and efforts, the musical theatrical performance drew notably on information and communications technology and depicted the evolution of music from the Middle Ages to the present...

Cégep Limoilou

Students committed to salvaging food waste

The five student members of the environmental committee at the Cégep Limoilou’s Québec campus are brimming with ideas on how to raise awareness among the college community of various environmental issues. Every year, they establish a wide range of concrete actions to help improve students’ life habits and prompt them to make more ecological choices...

Cégep Beauce-Appalaches

Students committed to fostering sustainable development values within their community

As true ambassadors of sustainable development, the young members of CUVÉ get involved in various different ways to promote environmental respect both within and outside the walls of their college. The Green Party, which showcases local agriculture, ecotourism and home composting, is just one of many zany actions the committee has come up with to raise awareness of environmental issues among the community...

Cégep de Sainte-Foy

Students committed to pushing back their limits while promoting a Québec cultural heritage

In the fall of 2010, four students at the Cégep de Sainte-Foy set themselves a truly unusual challenge: to establish an ice canoe team that would take part in the five official races on the Circuit québécois de canot à glace (CQCG) that were held between January and March 2011 – and in the women’s Elite category no less! Ice canoeing is a lesser-known extreme sport that demands a great deal of physical preparation....

Champlain regional college

Students committed to shedding light on health issues that concern young people 

Made up entirely of students, the Health & Wellness Committee examines key youth health issues. Every year, the committee organizes up to four information and mobilization campaigns focusing on important health issues such as body image and suicide prevention...

Cégep de Sherbrooke

Students committed to innovating in the field of mechanical engineering

Dreamed up as early as 2007 by students newly enrolled in the mechanical engineering technology program, the Baja SAE project was finally launched in 2009. The aim: to design an all-terrain vehicle, possibly amphibian, which is worthy of a marketable product while respecting the criteria established by the Society of Automotive Engineers International (SAE)...

Cégep de Jonquière

Students committed to producing a documentary as a means of contributing to the worldwide prevention of leprosy

Every year, around 700,000 people worldwide are diagnosed with leprosy. What! The disease still exists? Yes. And a group of students in the multimedia integration program at the Cégep de Jonquière, in collaboration with students from Havana, Cuba, chose to address the issue. After spending two years preparing, the students produced, during a three-week training course in Cuba, a documentary...

Collège de Maisonneuve

Students committed to helping boost the self-esteem of Inuit youth in Nunavik

In January 2011, ten students at Collège de Maisonneuve took part in a unique multidisciplinary project in the small village of Salluit in Nunavik. The students, who are enrolled in six different fields of study (information and library technologies, multimedia integration, nursing, arts and literature, dental hygiene and correctional intervention), took on a truly remarkable challenge: to design original activities...

Collège Montmorency

Students committed to sharing their expertise while becoming more open to cultural differences

Twelve students in the physical rehabilitation program returned from a three-week trip to Senegal completely transformed. Their mission was twofold: to pass on some of their expertise to kinesitherapists at the hospital in Ziguinchor and provide support to the people in charge of a day centre for young Talibs in Lyndiane. Before their big departure, the participants organized several fund-raising events and learned all about the country...

Cégep de Sherbrooke

Students committed to raising awareness among elementary students of the impact of violence

“Violence in the schoolyard, that’s enough!” This is what a dozen students in the police technology program at the Cégep de Sherbrooke said to themselves in 2006. With the goal of curbing violence at schools, these students decided to focus on raising awareness rather than repression. It was the beginning of the UNITÉ sans violence program! Ever since, in collaboration with the City of Montréal police service...

Cégep de Chicoutimi

A student committed to inspiring graphic artists the world over!

Does the term character font mean anything to you? Arial and Times New Roman are the most widely known. But did you know there were many others? And that you can also design your own? Web programming and graphic arts enthusiast Jessica Lapointe launched CuttyFruty.com in 2004 when she was only 13 years old. The site is dedicated to promoting her creations: entirely original character fonts that can be accessed free of charge for personal use...

Cégep de Lévis-Lauzon

A student committed to showcasing the town of Leclercville

Designing and organizing a unique festival in a small town of less than 600 inhabitants within a period of only three months takes a great deal of determination and leadership! But this was nonetheless the challenge Sébastien Lemay and his team of volunteers took up in summer 2010. And Festi-Bench was held for the very first time in Leclercville from August 27 to 29, 2010...

Cégep de Sainte-Foy

A student committed to a greater sharing between cultures

Responsibility and leadership are key words for Sabrina Chaoui. At college, she is steadfastly involved as assistant coordinator of the student association’s intercultural committee called El Vagabundo, which organizes an annual intercultural week and offers activities to help immigrants enrolled in the college’s francization program to integrate more easily...

Cégep de Rivière-du-Loup

A student committed to defending human rights

You could say Constance Deschênes-St-Pierre has the letters A.I. tattooed across her heart. A.I. for Amnesty International, an organization well known for the actions it carries out to ensure the defence of human rights and in which she has been passionately involved since her high school years. It was when she was in Secondary 4 that Constance decided to set up an Amnesty International group...

Collège François-Xavier-Garneau

A student committed to innovating to help guarantee the sustainable development of our society

During his high school years, Marc-Antoine Mailloux-Labrousse helped organize a youth forum on climate change in the Arctic. “As well as instilling in me a passion for getting involved, the project showed me how important the sustainable development of our societies is in today’s world, and this has become my main source of motivation,” he admits. Upon entering college...

John Abbott College

A student committed to the common good by favouring individual actions

While distinguishing himself through his academic achievements in the Honours Science Program, Andrew Francis gets involved to make a difference in his community. He’s always ready and willing to seize every opportunity to give of his time to a good cause! Vice-president of academic affairs for his student association, he devotes a great deal of time to representing and helping his fellow students, in particular by analyzing school policies...

Collège Shawinigan

A student committed to promoting a healthy and diversified body image

She is only 19 years of age but she has already accomplished great things. Firmly convinced that the smallest of gestures can make a difference, Jacinthe Veillette has been getting involved since high school as a member of a multitude of student committees, community organizations and humanitarian projects. But the young woman’s most amazing talent is her ability to turn a negative experience into...