Categorized at the end of elementary school as an unruly child and thus assigned to a special education class upon entering high school, Charlie Williams, a student at Saint-Laurent high school, has been through some hard times. The victim of mockery from his fellow students and sometimes provoking angry responses from his teachers, one day he decided he’d had enough of being at a standstill and being told he’d never make any headway. Today, Charlie draws motivation from his love of basketball, and has fought back, making up for lost time and dreaming of going on to university in a not so distant future.

Categorized at the end of elementary school as an unruly child and thus assigned to a special education class upon entering high school, Charlie Williams, a student at Saint-Laurent high school, has been through some hard times. The victim of mockery from his fellow students and sometimes provoking angry responses from his teachers, one day he decided he’d had enough of being at a standstill and being told he’d never make any headway. Today Charlie is as motivated as they come and has fought back, making up for lost time and dreaming of going on to university in a not so distant future.

Charlie is now 17 years of age and says in all honesty that basketball, his favourite sport, was his saving grace. This and the help of two people in particular who offered him a helping hand during one of his lowest moments. It was a period when the young man was thinking of dropping out of school and his basketball coach Marc-André Demers convinced him not to, asking him instead to give up the bad behaviour and focus on his studies. “If I wanted to stay on the team, I had no choice but to improve in class. Basketball was the only source of motivation I had left,” admits Charlie, who has been a member of the team for six years now and also plays football in the summer for the city team in Saint-Laurent.

Easier said than done however for a boy who more often than not let himself be influenced by his fellow students and thought mostly about having fun rather than studying. Despite this fact, he did so and in a brilliant way, above all thanks to Alexandra Pauzé, a teacher who sort of took him under her wing. The consequence of which is that Charlie has managed to extricate himself from the special education class, has caught up the two years he was behind in the regular high school program and in all probability will obtain his high school diploma next year by completing his studies in an adult education program. All these efforts have enabled him to silence the prophecies of doom in his regard.

“Mrs. Pauzé always told me she couldn’t study for me and do my homework in my place. However, she helped me so much so that I could succeed that now I know that in life, everything is possible. You just never have to give up,” he says with assurance, adding that he now wants to follow the same path as his brothers and pursue a career in computer science.

The student services counsellor and the man in charge of the sports teams at Saint-Laurent high school, Robert Leblanc, remembers his first encounter with Charlie. A rather heated encounter he does not have happy memories of. Nevertheless, today when he speaks of Charlie - and in fact he believes the other teachers would all depict the same portrait - he describes him as being the perfect example of perseverance.

“Charlie has come a long, long way,” he starts by explaining. “Today, it is as though he’s gone from being a stubborn little boy who did everything to cause trouble to a young adult who is determined and motivated by his goals for success. He works so hard that he has gained the respect of his teachers and the school principal Mrs. Louise Chénard, who has followed his progress since Grade 1. He has also earned this respect as a member of the basketball team and he has become, thanks to all the efforts he devotes to practice, an influential player on the team.”

Today, Charlie can see the reward for his efforts looming on the horizon, and believes more strongly than ever that he will succeed. All the same, he was never a bad student in elementary school. He just lacked concentration and self-discipline. “And it cost me dearly,” he points out. “Until the day I said to myself, you’ll see, you’ll get out of here.”

If he had a single message for all those who are tempted to follow the same path as him, Charlie would simply say: “never let anyone tell you that you aren’t capable of doing anything good. You are the only one who can be the judge and do what it takes to succeed.”

Ask any student at De Rochebelle high school, regardless of what year they’re in, if they know Maurane Cloutier and they will undoubtedly reply: “but of course I now her, she’s the school vice-president. She’s easy to spot, she’s involved in everything.” The Secondary 4 student is cheerful and has overflowing enthusiasm and originality, and strives by all available means to transmit the energy that spurs her on to all her fellow students. Student representative, member of the badminton team, collaborator for the Gala Méritas for two years, volunteer for the Terry Fox Foundation, Leucan and Baluchon Alzheimer, Maurane always ends up finding a project that grabs her attention. And if the project doesn’t exist, she creates it.

When you attend a school of 2,100 students, it can be hard to get to know everyone and especially to be known by everyone. At De Rochebelle high school however, if you ask a student, regardless of what year they’re in, if they know Maurane Cloutier, they will undoubtedly reply: “but of course I know her, she’s the school vice-president. She’s easy to spot, she’s involved in everything.” And involved is an understatement! You could almost say the term was coined just for her.

“I think I need to discover new things, to take part in projects. It’s not really very complicated, you just have to take the initiative,” says in all modesty and in a bright voice the Secondary 4 student who has succeeded in maintaining an overall grade average of nearly 90% despite all her activities and the fact that she’s enrolled in an international studies program.

As soon as she began high school, Maurane chose not to watch life pass her by but instead to join the parade and even sometimes lead it. She is cheerful and has overflowing enthusiasm and originality, and strives by all available means to transmit the energy that spurs her on to all her fellow students. “My everyday goal is to be able to rally other students so as to make my school more lively, dynamic and socially-committed. In order to do so, I frequently make a point of meeting students in every year, I listen to them, I represent them and I preach by example.”

And there is certainly no lack of examples. As the student representative for the school administration and the governing body, a member of the badminton team, a collaborator for the Gala Méritas for two years for which she helps to write the texts and produce the event, a musician in the wind section, and a volunteer for the Terry Fox Foundation, Leucan and Baluchon Alzheimer, Maurane always ends up by finding a project that grabs her attention. And if the project doesn’t exist, she creates it.

“Last year, there was a music group of flute players but this year it was dropped. I thought this was a real shame so I got other girls together, I met with the music teachers and asked that the group be formed again. And it worked,” she recounts quite naturally, adding that she also established a reading club for youngsters at the municipal library.

Another of Maurane’s recent initiatives also perfectly reflects just how much her involvement is beneficial to all. While carrying out a school history project, she realised there were certain elements that should be studied in greater depth. A few days later, she had succeeded in convincing the famous historian Jacques Lacoursière to come and give a lecture for all the students in her year. The lecture is scheduled for March.

“Without doubt, Maurane assumes a great deal of leadership. She quickly gets involved in every project, not only by sharing her ideas, but also by contributing physically. She does everything she can to help her projects advance. Her involvement with the Acti Santé committee is a fine example,” points out Denis Drouin, who has been the school’s student services counsellor for 19 years.

As a member of the committee, the finalist in the Committed Student category greatly contributed to the school’s adoption of a new healthy-living policy: a modified menu in the cafeteria, additional lunchtime facilities, and the hosting of all kinds of events such as the healthy breakfast, the 4x4 challenge and the mega workout. And as the environment is also an issue close to her heart, with the help of fellow students she initiated a process for the purchase of reusable dishes in the cafeteria. The project was adopted and financed by the school administration and should be in effect as of next year. “Even though I get involved with conviction, the whole team is behind the success of all these projects,” insists Maurane, who pictures herself pursuing a career in medicine or politics.

“There is no doubt about it, Maurane will leave a very positive mark of the time she spent at our school. She always defends her ideas with a great deal of respect and courtesy. This bears witness to her self-confidence and her desire to move forward. She is in a way a serene force and a force that will go a long way,” points out Denis Drouin with sincerity.

Esteban Salcedo arrived in Canada when he was only 5 years old and grew up sheltered from the political and economic instability of his native Colombia. The Secondary 5 student at Des Sources high school is very proud of his origins and strives to raise public awareness of the plight of the most destitute communities. In order to do so, in May 2008 Esteban set up an extensive salvaging project for used bikes and succeeded in collecting 75 bikes that were shipped to El Salvador. He will be repeating the experience this year and the fruit of his efforts will be sent to Colombia. Moreover, he will be able to pass on his message thanks to an upcoming participation in a United Nations re-enactment.

One day Esteban Salcedo heard someone say: “Those who have the power to intervene also have the responsibility of doing so.” Ever since, for the young Secondary 5 student at Des Sources high school, this saying regularly comes to mind and motivates the decisions he makes, which he believes can improve our world. “I am lucky to be able to live in a wonderful place and I therefore feel obliged to use all available resources to help those in need,” he starts by saying.

Esteban arrived in Canada when he was only five years old and grew up sheltered from the political and economic instability of his native Colombia. He has in no way turned his back on his roots and is on the contrary extremely proud of his origins. In fact, what he wants to do is take advantage of the opportunity his parents gave him to live in Canada in order to help the people in his country. “The fact that I have had this chance has opened my eyes to different realities. We still have family that we visit in Colombia. When I see the differences between here and over there, it strengthens my desire to do something tangible,” explains the 16-year-old who is enrolled in an international studies program.

But if you want to help an entire country, you have to find somewhere to start. For Esteban, the starting point took the shape of an extensive salvage project for used bikes that he wanted to ship back to his native Colombia. “I must admit I was very ambitious. I believe that if you want something to succeed, you must always aim high. It’s even more stimulating,” he says, laughing. But how do you go about it? “At first, I wanted to do everything on my own. Collect the bikes one by one, repair them, store them and then take care of the shipping. I quickly realised that this would be easier said than done,” recounts the finalist in the Committed Student category.

So Esteban contacted Cyclo Nord-Sud, an organization that fights poverty by collecting bikes and shipping them to destitute communities in Southern countries, where they are used as a means of transport and of earning money. Following numerous meetings, Esteban finally arranged his first collection last May in Pierrefonds. He set about getting together a team, finding a place to collect the bikes and advertising the event. Esteban and his team succeeded in collecting 75 bikes. However, as Cyclo Nord-Sud did not have any ties with Colombia at the time, the bikes headed for El Salvador.

“I have already started setting up a second collection. And this time, in order to be able to ship the bikes to Colombia, I made my own enquiries to find a receiving organization and I now take care of all communication between this organization and Cyclo Nord-Sud,” says Esteban.

Moreover, so as to raise public awareness of the plight of Colombia, Esteban will soon be playing the role of international delegate for Colombia during a United Nations re-enactment that will be held at Collège André-Grasset. For the occasion, he will be accompanied by a fellow student and will address two issues that affect the country, namely the food crisis and the right to good health. “This chance to take part in something that helps inform people about social inequalities is very important to me. In fact, by becoming either a diplomat or a journalist, I would really like to one day be able to have this power to inform and to bring about change.”

His work last year with the Acti-Aide committee at his school also bears witness to his innate desire to do good wherever he can. As a member of the group, Esteban ensured the smooth running of school activities and provided help in the library and classrooms during lunch-hour. “There’s a little something about Esteban, a leadership skill that enables him to make others aware of the problems of the most destitute. He is determined and highly conscious of the serious issues of world poverty. I also know that he’d like to pursue an international career in this field. For all these reasons, he has my greatest admiration," maintains Gérard Camisa, the man in charge of the Acti-Aide committee.

Just imagine for one moment that you could go back in time to your high school years and were given the right to choose your teachers. You would be given the curriculum vitae of each one, and your attention would be drawn to the one-page résumé of personal development teacher Fabrice Bouly, at the bottom of which there is a list of his personal interests: teaching, pirates, human cannonballs, sewing, tightrope walking, cinema, Halloween, psychology, philosophy, useless yet interesting things, old LPs… You’d definitely select him and no doubt say to yourself that the year will be anything but boring.

Just imagine for one moment that you could go back in time to your high school years and were given the right to choose your teachers. You would be given the curriculum vitae of each one, and your attention would be drawn to the one-page résumé of personal development teacher Fabrice Bouly, at the bottom of which there is a list of his personal interests: teaching, pirates, human cannonballs, sewing, tightrope walking, cinema, Halloween, psychology, philosophy, useless yet interesting things, old LPs… You’d definitely select him and no doubt say to yourself that the year will be anything but boring.

With his somewhat outlandish appearance, a bold and confident gait and a head brimming with ideas and projects, Fabrice Bouly has only one goal in life: to do what he can to make sure students enjoy their school life and are able to find their true selves. “When I was in high school, I didn’t think that there was a life at school and I missed out on that. Now that I see things from the other side, I want my students to want to get involved in projects that reach out to their community and at the same time strengthen their sense of belonging at school,” recounts the teacher at Saint-Stanislas high school in Saint-Jérôme.

A little bit of a nonconformist - though he prefers to describe himself as a colourful and committed teacher, adding that he makes no pretence whatsoever of wanting to reinvent everything - Fabrice Bouly simply strives to establish ties with young people, young people he finds are beautiful, have something to say and whom he considers to be people in their own right. “Our young people are a source of inspiration and, each in their own way, they have a taste for getting involved. Sometimes it’s just a question of giving them the means of doing so.”

And the means, the 35-year-old teacher has loads of them. The students could speak volumes about the international bolo competition at Saint-Stanislas school, when the winner made 4,700 consecutive hits, or about the two days of piracy, during which the students participated in a treasure hunt, and again about both the plaster day and moustache day, two activities set up as a token of solidarity towards people with wounds or moustaches, but above all just for the fun of it.

“I have always dreamed of working at a fair as either a human cannonball or a tightrope walker. So God knows that I have been working on my physical and mental balance for many years now,” Fabrice points out with a laugh, and showing just how original his actions indeed are.

Because his actions are so important for establishing a link with the community and promoting involvement within it, he just keeps coming up with ideas, such as the famous fund-raiser he conducted with the help of students and for which Fabrice thought of numerous ways for raising money: the sale of barley sugar and Santa Claus hats he and his wife made themselves, a lunchtime choir made up of people who can’t sing, where you had to pay to stop all the racket, and a photo session with the real Santa Claus. Thanks to all these activities, more than $650 was raised and donated to the Club optimiste in Saint-Sauveur.

“I worked three years at a cégep and I have never met anyone like Fabrice, anyone as involved or as dynamic… Basically he’s a teacher who is appreciated by all his students, a family man, an individual with his own sense of fashion, and with leadership and ideas to spare,” sports and recreation technician Valérie Lepage-Barrette points out with admiration.

Another example of one of his original ideas, Fabrice, as the person in charge of the school yearbook, recruited students to knit scarves out of old wool as a way of financing the yearbook. Parents joined the group and a grandmother even went to the school to teach the students how to knit.

For all his projects, Fabrice has obtained the unfailing support of the school administration and of the staff, who are also wholeheartedly involved, and he stresses the need to allow students to get away from the humdrum routine of studying so that they can showcase their skills and talents and bring to light another facet of their personality.

“Despite the fact that for me school left a vast void, I became a teacher to try, in my own way, to give prominence to young people. We must allow them to enliven this living environment, which is such an important part of their lives. To allow them to take initiatives is to allow them to take this environment, and eventually our world, in hand,” the teacher philosophizes.

Marie-Lyne Binet, a Cycle 1 science and technology teacher at Mont-Sainte-Anne high school, has a true passion for ecology and biology. Thanks to her commitment, both at school and in the community, hundreds of young people now see the world of science from a new perspective and are following in her footsteps… off the beaten track. “Being a scientist does not mean being cooped up in a laboratory surrounded by test tubes. Being a scientist is, instead, being out in the field so as to get a better understanding of nature’s biodiversity and grasp the impact of human activity on the environment,” asserts the finalist, who never thinks twice about investing enormous effort into taking her students on real expeditions outside the school walls.

Marie-Lyne Binet, a Cycle 1 science and technology teacher at Mont-Sainte-Anne high school, has a true passion for ecology and biology. Thanks to her commitment, both at school and in the community, hundreds of young people now see the world of science from a new perspective and are following in her footsteps… off the beaten track. “Being a scientist does not mean being cooped up in a laboratory surrounded by test tubes. Being a scientist is, instead, being out in the field so as to get a better understanding of nature’s biodiversity and grasp the impact of human activity on the environment,” asserts the finalist, who never thinks twice about investing enormous effort into taking her students on real expeditions outside the school walls.

Ever since she began teaching, Mrs. Binet has tried to help her students to gain hands-on experience. “There is nothing more rewarding than to see a student whose eyes light up and who goes on to say: "I have just understood why learning this concept is so useful." Afterwards, the student will pay more attention in class and is more interested in what is being taught,” she happily points out.

“I want to give young people a taste for discovering the sciences. By showing them the importance and frailty of their environment, I want to make them understand that, as citizens of tomorrow, they have the possibility of making responsible choices in order to protect the planet,” she adds.

Four years ago, a wonderful combination of circumstances led her to set up a project that aptly expresses this personal mission. In collaboration with the Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Ducks Unlimited Canada and Amis du cap Tourmente, she established a Wetland Centre of Excellence, adopting local wetlands along the shores of the St. Lawrence River on the Beaupré coast, and set out to protect this natural habitat.

“I had to start from scratch. I put a lot of time and energy into getting the project off the ground but I truly believed in it.” And she still believes in it. “When I see that the students are increasingly motivated, I know that I must carry on.”

“The banks of the river are part of our environment. We see them every day without really thinking about them. But these wetlands are vital to our region’s biodiversity. In making the students aware of this milieu, I hope to increase their sense of belonging and feeling of pride in regard to their living environment,” says Mrs. Binet. Thanks to the Centre, every year 500 or so Cycle 1 students are able to leave the classroom and head to the banks of the St. Lawrence where, standing in the mud, they make observations, collect water samples to be analysed, try to understand the importance of marshes in a given environment and so forth.

Mrs. Binet has gradually added activities: the construction of birdhouses and the organization of an orientation day allowing students to discover the careers in the sciences that are open to them, from a professional studies diploma to a Bachelor’s degree.

Moreover, next May, she will give her students the opportunity to take part in a brand new experience: a geocaching outing. “It is a treasure hunt using GPS devices. The students will be given the coordinates of the geocaches that they have to find. Each cache contains a riddle about concepts learned in class,” the teacher enthusiastically explains. This bona fide adventure would never have been possible without the participation of Telus, which offered the school a $10,000 grant for the purchase of the necessary equipment.

And this is not the first time that Mrs. Binet has received funding for the Centre. Other local organizations such as the Caisses populaires, the CLD and the Fondation des Premières Seigneuries have also contributed, a fact that bears witness to the importance of collaboration between the school milieu and the community. “I want all the activities to be free of charge so that all students can take part. Above and beyond the money, this involvement by the community is a token of recognition of the work accomplished. We all have a role to play in enabling young people to partake in enriching real-life experiences that will help them to become more responsible and committed citizens.”

When you’re 15 or 16 years old, with very little or no money, you may often wonder if you really can be of help, lend a hand or “pass it forward.” Not long ago, the 400 Secondary 4 students at the Polyvalente Saint-Jérôme asked themselves this very question. Their answer: “Yes we can!” Their means: “Let’s say we write a song and donate it to a charitable organization!” This is the original project they came up with and that has captured the imagination of everyone… and the enthusiasm of the local organizations that may one day inherit the song in question.

When you’re 15 or 16 years old, with very little or no money, you may often wonder if you really can be of help, lend a hand or “pass it forward.” Not long ago, the 400 Secondary 4 students at the Polyvalente Saint-Jérôme asked themselves this very question. Their answer: “Yes we can!” Their means: “Let’s say we write a song and donate it to a charitable organization!” This is their project that has captured the imagination of everyone… and the enthusiasm of local organizations that may one day inherit the song in question.

For several years, the students in Secondary 4 at the Polyvalente Saint-Jérôme, as part of their English class, have been learning the language by exploring some forty organizations established in their area. Last year several students expressed the desire to be able to support the mission of these organizations but, for lack of time, were not able to do so. This year, with the “A song to make a difference” project, the students will have every opportunity to actively contribute in order to support the development of a local, regional or even provincial organization. To help promote an organization using the arts is a gift that is fun both to give and to prepare!

“This project calls upon a host of different talents, from music composition to writing without forgetting drawing, because of course the album will need to have a cover,” enthuses Caroline Côté, a French teacher and the project’s spokeswoman. “Ever since the project was launched, our teaching method has been given a huge boost. The students feel as though they are working on something tangible and the subject matter now has much greater meaning,” she adds.

Although the project is not yet finished, it is progressing well. The 400 or so students involved have already pinpointed different organizations and have started to gather information in order to determine which one appeals to them the most.

In the meantime, the students in the music class, with the keen support of their teacher Alain Gravel, have already done their part for the project and have submitted what is called a chord progression that will eventually become the real melody once the song has been chosen. Finally, it is a creation by Cynthia David that was selected and that will be adapted to the chosen lyrics.

“It’s really interesting to be able to produce something with a specific goal in mind rather than simply doing it for our school record,” the student acknowledges, also admitting that she has a soft spot for the Tel-jeunes organization. “I have been playing the guitar for a long time now and I also write my own compositions but this is special. What’s more, because it was my creation that was picked, it’s even more special.”

The students, individually or some in teams, will soon begin writing their song. A single text per class will be selected among the 13 French groups and then the best four will be eligible for the final vote. At this point, each composition will be given a melody and will be recorded on school premises by the music students. Next, all those working at the school and the entire student body will have the chance to hear the four songs on a regular basis before voting for the overall winner. “We are even going to hold auditions to find the best voice in the school and thus do justice to the song that is chosen. And once we have our winning masterpiece, we will record the final version in a professional studio,” explains Caroline Côté.

By the beginning of May, the organization selected as the recipient of the creation will be awarded the song during an official ceremony that will take place at the Polyvalente. Until then, you can follow all the production stages of this original song, and ultimately listen to the final product, on the school’s Internet site (www.csrdn.qc.ca/psj).

“As well as rallying the entire student community, this project has the immense merit of helping young people be more open to their community and the various non-profit organizations it encompasses. They also realise that as a team, despite limited funds, it is possible to do something significant for these organizations,” the teacher concludes.

Since the tragic death of his father when he was only six years old, Mykaël Christopher Boulet has never been the same. The little smiling boy at the time became gloomy and sad, and developed severe behavioural problems. At the time, he embarked on a long and difficult path fraught with all kinds of problems but today, the student at the Centre psycho-pédagogique de Québec (CPPQ), who has just turned 17, has chosen to take his life in hand. As well as being committed to his studies, he is actively involved in school activities (fashion shows, hosting a benefit event and student counselling). And his efforts have even enabled him to enrol in a vocational training school beginning next year.

Since the tragic death of his father when he was only six years old, Mykaël Christopher Boulet has never been the same. The little smiling boy at the time became gloomy and sad, and developed severe behavioural problems. At the time, he embarked on a long and difficult path fraught with all kinds of problems but today, the student at the Centre psycho-pédagogique de Québec (CPPQ), who has just turned 17, has chosen to take his life in hand and, thanks to his perseverance, can now see the sun rising on the horizon. The profile of a boy who has definitely not been blessed in life!

“I have always had trouble believing in myself and I think that others, well certain people, have more faith in me than I do. But since last spring, things have changed. I have changed. I believe that my efforts will take me far. Because I have been a ward of the state all my life, I can’t wait to make the right choices for myself. I know that I am capable,” Mykaël Boulet confides with timidity and emotion, and still slightly under the shock of being nominated as a Forces AVENIR finalist.

Over the past ten years, Mykaël’s life has been marked by instability. He has lived with a dozen foster families and in group homes and suffered from medicated hyperactivity, mood swings, chronic disobedience, generalized demotivation, violence and drug addiction, the perfect cocktail for taking up a life characterized by total disorganization. Then one day the young boy realized that he would soon have to face the music of life alone and chose to put an end to this long, chaotic period.

“Last spring, after having spent eight years at our school, we informed him that we wouldn’t be able to accept him the following year. He then asked to meet with us and, for one and a half hours, he did everything he could to convince us to let him stay one more year, saying that he would take important steps towards functioning better, that he’d quit drugs and that he would be more committed to succeeding. Well, he did all this and respected all the terms and conditions we’d imposed upon him. He became a changed person and a role model of perseverance,” CPPQ psychologist Evelyn Wright confides with satisfaction.

From that moment on, Mykaël became fully committed to his studies and to various projects. He took part in a fashion show at his school for the second time. He also stood in at the last minute for a student who was supposed to host the annual benefit dinner attended by at least 500 people. He was also steadfastly involved in the Route de la jeunesse project that offers young people grappling with drug addiction problems activities that help them develop healthier lifestyle habits. He then enrolled in the CPPQ’s Service d’élèves confidents. After following a training course for care workers, he can now help students who need to talk but don’t feel like talking to adults. “I listen to them and we try to find solutions together. For me it’s very rewarding to be able to help others,” he asserts.

Music has also played a key role in Mykaël’s change of direction. Four or five years ago, when he was living with a foster family, favourable circumstances enabled him to discover the guitar. Ever since, without even having taken lessons, he has been writing songs and plays with creative energy and a definite talent. “Music enables me to vent my frustrations and helps me get through my periods of anxiety. Everything is released when I play. It’s my way of relaxing.”

Proud of what he has accomplished in less than a year and above all confident in the future, Mykaël has even enrolled in a vocational training school where he plans to learn how to be a plasterer. He will soon have the right to stand on his own two feet and have his very own apartment, a dream he has cherished for a long time.

“It’s hard for children to find their bearings in life if they don’t feel their life is stable. Today, Mykaël has found the long-lost ray of sunshine that used to illuminate his face before his life was turned upside down. He has taken himself in hand and we know he will attain his goals. He has all our admiration,” Mrs. Wright points out in a voice filled with emotion.

If you were to challenge the students at the Petit Séminaire de Québec to organize an event that brings together scientists, researchers, teachers and high school students, you can be sure they will make it a success. This was precisely the case on December 8 when 210 students and teachers from 32 schools across Québec along with forty or so specialists joined forces to take part in the Youth Forum on Climate Change in the Arctic. And the scientific event for experts and non-experts alike helped a number of tomorrow’s decision-makers better understand the impact of global warming on the Arctic and its inhabitants.

It took close to six months of preparation to achieve the final result. A total of 25 students rolled up their sleeves, learned the basics of event planning and assembled all the pieces of the puzzle so as to present a high quality event. “We had to be very disciplined and meet several times as a team in order to carry it off. In fact, teamwork proved to be really important from start to finish,” Secondary 5 organizing committee member Gabrielle Sévigny confided in an interview.

It was following a request from ArcticNet, a network of centres of excellence that brings together a hundred or so researchers from 27 Canadian universities and 5 federal departments, that the school administration and the students at the Petit Séminaire de Québec decided to organize the event. As scientific publications on global warming are generally written for an adult readership, the Youth Forum was seen as an opportunity to provide young people with the proper information, with the avowed goal of prompting them to return to their school and in turn become engines for transmitting information and heightening awareness about the Arctic.

Not everyone would have been able to attract as many participants and, more importantly, as many specialists as the students did. They had to call upon a great deal of dynamism, commitment and above all resourcefulness. “From the start, we wanted to give the students a lot of leeway so that they would truly be in charge of the entire organization. And I must admit, I was impressed,” asserts chemistry teacher Frédéric Gagnon.

From planning the day’s schedule and producing the website to organizing the press conference, seeking out sponsors, managing registrations for the event, the budget and catering logistics, as well as overseeing all the volunteers, the organizers left nothing to chance and their experience enabled them to develop skills that can only be acquired by working in the field. “At first, we saw it as a huge mountain, but we established a solid structure and we had the time needed to make adjustments. It was really only at the Forum itself that we realized just how big a mountain it was,” recounts Jérémie Marcoux, another student member of the organizing committee.

Indeed, the participants at the Youth Forum were spoiled for things to see and hear. They had the possibility of attending three lectures, were entitled to take part in two workshops out of the fifteen on offer and could voice their own opinions during one of the five interactive debates on the program. The participating students, who made up the majority of the participants, thus increased their knowledge on such subjects as the role of the Arctic Ocean in the climate system, the Arctic’s marine ecosystem, the research carried out aboard the Amundsen icebreaker and the sources of contamination that are disrupting the Arctic.

“I was moved to see how Arctic communities are affected by climate change and the impact it has on their culture, economy and lifestyle,” says Gabrielle.

“It’s hard to remain indifferent to their plight and not to talk about the situation to those around us, at school and at home,” Jérémie adds.

The Forum was the first event of its kind organized in Québec as a partnership between ArcticNet and a school and there’s a good chance that this formula will be taken up by others. At the Petit Séminaire de Québec for example the repercussions were instantaneous and the school has already decided to set up a student environmental committee as of next year.

When Les mains de Champlain – a cooperative run entirely by students at Hélène-de-Champlain high school – established the extracurricular project L’augmentation du goût de la vie, it immediately had a major impact on the community. Thanks to their pedagogical, collective vegetable garden, the students managed among other things to donate 2,000 pounds of organic vegetables to more than 130 underprivileged families. Covering an area of 6,000 square feet, the vegetable garden has become a learning laboratory and place for sharing for 50 young students and is so successful that plans are already under way to double its size by summer 2010.

We often hear about community-based interventions as a means of fighting poverty. When this type of intervention is initiated in a school community by young people with a need to feel useful, it becomes obvious that commitment and learning do go hand in hand. Thus, thanks to their pedagogical, collective vegetable garden, the students at Hélène-de-Champlain high school have managed among other things to donate 2,000 pounds of organic vegetables to more than 130 underprivileged families. A sure sign that young people can indeed make a difference.

When Les mains de Champlain – a cooperative run entirely by students – established from scratch the extracurricular project L’augmentation du goût de la vie, it immediately had a major impact on the community. Covering an area of 6,000 square feet, the vegetable garden is not only a learning laboratory for young students, it has also become an intergenerational meeting place. In fact, the garden is now regarded as a kind of oasis of calm for neighbourhood residents who voluntarily stop by to lend the students a hand and even share their expertise in the area of horticulture.

“Our cooperative was looking to espouse a social cause which at the same time would provide the school with a rallying project. In setting up the garden in collaboration with the school board, the city of Longueuil and the L’entraide chez nous organization, which redistributes vegetables to families, the students discovered the rewards of volunteer work and created a synergy the upshot of which is that they are now more present at school and work together for a good cause,” recounts Daniel Lefebvre, one of the teachers in charge of the project.

As the school is a vocational training centre attended by young people suffering from behaviour disorders and learning disabilities, the daily absenteeism rate often reached 50%, but ever since the project was launched, this rate has dropped significantly and is now just over 10%. And as the school teaches gardening, woodworking and cooking, every single student can do their share in the garden’s development. Some students oversee every aspect from beginning to end such as the sowing and fertilizing, as well as preparing and transplanting the seedlings, watering, weeding and finally harvesting, while others such as those taking woodworking have designed and set up a pond area and created outdoor urban furniture. As for the cooking students, they have the chance to develop their techniques using the vegetables harvested from the garden, which they make into meals served in the school cafeteria.

“In addition to higher student attendance and a decrease in undesirable behaviour, I have also noticed that, because of this innovative project, the students can now benefit from enriched learning experiences. It is a rallying project for the entire team and for our students who can now have a say in the realities they face,” recounts school principal Benoît Miousse.

The project has truly had a tangible impact on young people. It’s almost as though the vegetable garden has become a safe haven where young people naturally go to wind down. “For example, we have a privilege system for the students at school that rewards them for good behaviour,” Mr. Lefebvre explains. “This year, when students are granted a privilege, most of the time, they choose to go and work in the garden. It just goes to show how important it is to them. The only thing is, they feel so useful that sometimes you feel like telling them to stop working.”

A member of Québec’s network of collective gardens, the vegetable garden established by the students at Hélène-de-Champlain high school is currently in the process of obtaining its organic certification. And because the results are more than positive, plans to double the size of the garden by summer 2010 are currently under way.

At the young age of 14, the Coopérative’s president Maxime Landreville asserts that the launch of the vegetable garden has changed many things for many people including himself. “I could never seem to find the motivation to go to school but now it’s the complete opposite. I have come to realize that I have the power to help others and I have gained a lot of self-confidence. It has also been a huge lesson in humanitarian aid and this is something that will stay with me all my life.”

While the mysterious Mademoiselle C. became known to the world thanks to children’s literature and the movies, it was Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntington that enabled its students to discover the just as exceptional Miss B. And Miss B. is none other than Lori Belair, an English and Spanish teacher with a heart as big as the universe. Enthusiastically committed at her school and in the community, her main goal in life is to see young people’s eyes light up when they learn something new.

While the mysterious Mademoiselle C. became known to the world thanks to children’s literature and the movies, it was Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntington that enabled its students to discover the just as exceptional Miss B. And Miss B. is none other than Lori Belair, an English and Spanish teacher with a heart as big as the universe. Enthusiastically committed at her school and in the community, her main goal in life is to see young people’s eyes light up when they learn something new.

At Arthur-Pigeon high school, hardly a day goes by without a student benefiting from Lori Belair’s generosity and presence, or someone being given the opportunity to work on some sort of project with her. Above and beyond her help organising the open house day, hosting award nights, supervising a group of student presenters who work during special events and setting up and chaperoning a school trip to New York, Miss B. works relentlessly in order to give young people a taste for setting things in motion and in turn getting involved. “Everyone wants to be a part of Miss B’s projects,” asserts school principal Lynda Loignon. She is in charge of various associations, oversees personal projects, organizes prevention activities and is involved in a huge project for improving the schoolyard. (…) It’s easy to understand why the students have so much respect and admiration for her.”

“I like to see young people grasp a concept and see a spark ignite when they come up with the solution. Above all, I try to find ways of keeping them interested in learning and encouraging them to push even harder. And it is by getting involved with them in various projects that I am able to attain this goal,” the teacher recounts.

What makes Lori Belair such a popular teacher is most certainly her strong ability to recognize opportunities and get things moving so as to convert them into tangible and beneficial results. For example, as the person in charge of the school’s international studies program, Miss B. noticed that students were starting to lose interest in the program. To remedy the situation, she simply concocted, from scratch, a new education program specially designed for Arthur-Pigeon high school. And this was how the S’IMPLIX program (which stands for involvement, investment, motivation, participation, languages, integration and excellence) came into being. “Three years ago, only 25 students took the entry exam for the international studies program. This year, S’IMPLIX drew more than 65,” the principal explains.

Based in part on the existing program, the one developed by Miss B. goes far beyond academic commitment. “The S ’IMPLIX program focuses on everything that transcends the academic content. There is a lot of emphasis on social accountability and students are encouraged to get involved as much in everyday life, at school and outside of school, as in their studies. In the space of a single year, student involvement has almost doubled and this has had a positive impact of the overall atmosphere at school,” points out Miss B.

And what better role model than Miss B. to motivate young people to get involved. In addition to the various activities she carries out at school and with young people, the mother of three young children has been giving of her time to the Haut-Saint-Laurent family resource centre for four years now and is the manager of her son’s hockey team.

Lori Belair admits she owes her great openness to others and her urgent need to give back to the community to her mother, who was a strong source of inspiration, has always encouraged her in her different projects and is always the first to congratulate her. Today, she provides the same kind of inspiration she was given to her own children and her students, trying simply to motivate them to in turn surpass themselves.

“My own personal reward is when my students come back to see me at school and tell me what they’ve been doing and also when I meet their parents and they say to me, with a huge smile: “So you’re the famous Miss B.!” It proves to me that my teaching has had a positive impact and this means a lot to me,” the incomparable Miss B. admits with true emotion.

 

While textbooks can provide a certain amount of knowledge, nature can also most certainly be a sound pedagogical tool. But in order to use this tool, it is necessary to know how to listen to nature and interpret it, something Simon Faucher, an outdoors activities and physical education teacher at Mont-Saint-Sacrement high school, quickly learned to do. Today he is committed to sharing his love of nature with his students with the goal of enabling them to discover their true selves and their potential. Thanks to expeditions and volunteer work, young people are able to learn all about mutual aid, group dynamics, sharing, respect and how to be heedful of others.

While textbooks can provide a certain amount of knowledge, nature can also most certainly be a sound pedagogical tool. But in order to use this tool, it is necessary to know how to listen to nature and interpret it, something Simon Faucher, an outdoors activities and physical education teacher at Mont-Saint-Sacrement high school, quickly learned to do. Today he is committed to sharing his love of nature with young people with the goal of enabling them to discover their true potential.

With a somewhat bashful smile, Simon Faucher describes himself as a sort of black sheep of the education system. He grew up in the great outdoors, always on the lookout for new discoveries and adventures and using nature to shape his identity and acquire knowledge, and it is therefore not surprising that, later in life, he chose an avenue that would enable him to transmit this passion to young people. Now in charge of an outdoors program at Mont-Saint-Sacrement, he dedicates himself to his work wholeheartedly and far beyond the normal call of duty so as to enable his students to partake in unconventional learning experiences. He devotes no less than a dozen weekends a year to his students, during which time he is with them 24 hours a day.

“I often enjoy surmising that with our program – and I think with my commitment as well – we leave a positive footprint on young people rather than it being young people who leave their footprint on nature,” he philosophizes. “When I see that the students get their sleds ready for the expedition on their own and even prepare their dehydrated meals themselves, I can say to myself that we have accomplished something positive.”

Thanks to his expeditions, Simon Faucher succeeds in establishing trusting relationships with young people. He gets to know them in a new light and is able to discover their innate skills and inner qualities that are often undetectable in the classroom. “We lead them to work on their autonomy in a natural environment. They learn about mutual aid, group dynamics, sharing, respect and how to be heedful of others. It often all comes to a head. They are often confronted with themselves and others. A young girl once told me, a few years after following my program, that without it she would no longer be here today. She went through a difficult period as a teenager. I say to myself that, for her, my involvement has served a purpose.”

>To form citizens who live at one with their environment, which is Simon Faucher’s ardent desire, there is more than just the outdoors. For this reason, the teacher has developed a number of projects that are in line with a global approach to youth development. Among the most significant, there’s the Je redonne à ma communauté project, which enables students from three elementary schools in the region to participate in an outdoor adventure. Under Simon’s guidance, the youngest have the chance to try out rock climbing, go on discovery hikes and learn how to build a fire in the wild without leaving a mark on nature.

“When my students take part in these kinds of projects, adults often say to me: “It’s great to watch your youngsters at work. They show maturity, generosity, patience and they’re dynamic.” And I must admit, it is very rewarding not only for them but also for me.”Simon Faucher’s commitment and his unconventional teaching methods have even aroused interest outside the school. For the past five years, Simon has been working with other schools in the area, sharing his experience and developing outdoor activities programs adapted to the realities of each specific milieu. He also gives lectures for future teachers at Université Laval, which allow him to talk about his experience and prove that in-school and extracurricular projects can indeed lead to fine achievements.

The tangible results generated by Simon Faucher’s dynamism and passion are numerous. Because of his singular approach, he succeeds in reaching out to young people in a different way and leads them towards new horizons they had no idea existed. “Simon is not just the teacher of a given subject, he is someone who will forever be engraved in my memory. He has contributed to my personal development and succeeded in making me see life from a different perspective,” explains Alexandra Alain-Leblanc, a Secondary 5 student whose outdoor adventures have most certainly played a major role in her personal development.

When Josika Leblond gets an idea into her head, nothing will sway her off the path to attaining her objective. Whether it’s re-establishing her school’s recycling centre, creating an international solidarity training course from scratch, actively participating in the Rendez-vous des générations event held in her area or competing in singing contests, the Secondary 5 student at Arc-en-Ciel high school in Trois-Pistoles does everything it takes to achieve her aim. “In order to grow, you have to have projects, be on the move and meet people. And this is how I intend to take my rightful place,” she says with conviction and spirit.

When Josika Leblond gets an idea into her head, nothing will sway her off the path to attaining her objective. Whether it’s re-establishing her school’s recycling centre, creating an international solidarity training course from scratch or participating in singing contests, the Secondary 5 student at Arc-en-Ciel high school in Trois-Pistoles does everything it takes to achieve her aim. “In order to grow, you have to have projects, be on the move and meet people. And this is how I intend to take my rightful place,” she says with conviction and spirit.

It’s said that nature abhors a vacuum and Josika Leblond definitely puts her shoulder to the wheel so as to fill it up. Described as an ambitious, generous, determined, committed and strong-willed person, the 17-year-old student makes use of all these qualities in everything she undertakes. “I think it’s much easier to talk than act. But I prefer action!”

This thirst for action has led, among other things, to her involvement over the past three years with the student council. This year, she was appointed president and supervises the committee’s various actions, from the organization of festivals to the setting up of various thematic events and fund-raising activities to support a number of causes such as Enfant Soleil, and Aids and cancer research.

Her work with the school environmental committee is also worthy of mention. Using it as a platform for sharing her ecological principles, she played a huge part in the setting up of a recycling centre for recyclable materials, organic waste and residues at the school cafeteria in 2009. This year, to keep the centre up and running, she had to invest even greater efforts into recruiting new volunteers but everything worked out perfectly. Moreover, there are the thematic activities she organises such as Lunch Zéro Déchet (Zero Garbage Lunch) and the awareness activity she created for the Earth and Peace Week.

“Each and every one of Josika’s small gestures usually leads to positive and constructive results”, points out school principal Claude Thibault.

It was precisely in the hopes of making a tangible impact that Josika, along with a few of her friends, chose to set up an international cooperation training course in May 2009. Because she thought this type of training was lacking in her life, she took it upon herself to remedy the situation. The girls laid out their plan, chose an accompanying adult and appealed to the Casira organization to find a place to carry out the course and raise the $13,000 or so required to cover their expenses and to give some money to the people they were going to stay with. And in the very near future, Josika’s team will be heading to Guatemala where they will stay at an orphanage for children afflicted with Aids.

“I believe that, in order to be an efficient aid worker in international cooperation, I must first seek to understand the needs of the more destitute. This will enable me to better help them,” she asserts.

Josika likes to be able to understand people and everything going on around her. Her participation in Rendez-vous des générations, an event held in her area in January 2010, is another fine example of her openness to others. The activity allowed her to share her views on intergenerational living and listen to those of older generations.

And then of course there is her singing talent. This year, she will be participating for the third time in a high school talent contest where she will perform one of her own compositions. Last year she made it to the national finals in the singing category and was even the grand winner at the provincial singing championship in Trois-Pistoles.

“Life has perhaps treated Josika a little better than average by endowing her with numerous talents. However, she has succeeded in developing them and putting them to good use while remaining accessible and always ready to help others. She is recognized for her leadership skills and amiable personality. She’s a trooper, a winner who never leaves anything to chance and is open to her community and to the world,” enthuses Mr. Thibault.

An adept of travel and humanitarian aid, outstanding organizer, tireless sportswoman – and even coach when the fancy takes her –, member of various committees and above all highly attuned to the needs of others, Andréanne Mecteau is the very portrait of a steadfastly committed top of the class student. However, this hasn’t always been the case for the Vanier high school student. A few years ago she became severely demotivated and her unacceptable behaviour caused her many a problem. But thanks to her motivation and perseverance, she got a grip on herself and is now proving all predictions wrong.

An adept of travel and humanitarian aid, outstanding organizer, tireless sportswoman – and even coach when the fancy takes her –, member of various committees and above all highly attuned to the needs of others, Andréanne Mecteau is the very portrait of a steadfastly committed top of the class student. However, this hasn’t always been the case for the Vanier high school student. A few years ago she became severely demotivated and her unacceptable behaviour caused her many a problem. But thanks to her motivation and perseverance, she got a grip on herself and is now proving all predictions wrong.

After long discussions with Andréanne when, smiling shyly, she talked about the things she’s involved in and spoke with passion about her plans for the future, it was hard to believe that the 16-year-old was once labelled a problem student. However, upon entering high school, Andréanne explains that she went through a somewhat troubled period. Strongly influenced by a group of friends, and not really in a positive way, she totally lost interest in school, regularly confronting her teachers, completely casting aside school work and homework and spending all her time out with friends, all much to her parents’ despair. “I was strong-headed,” she reluctantly admits.

But then at the end of Secondary 2, everything toppled. Andréanne had failed every subject except English and was therefore obliged to join a special class to enable her to complete the program. The shock was hard to stomach. “I found myself in a class with students who were totally unmotivated. I immediately realized that I wasn’t meant to be there and decided to change my ways. I started by changing friends and I wanted to prove that I was just as smart and capable of succeeding as anyone else,” she recounts.

In order to do so, Andréanne began doing her homework, going to remedial classes and taking advantage of every free period to get ahead. The change was radical. Even her new circle of friends was completely different from the old one. “My new friends helped me enormously to surmount the obstacles.”

Andréanne’s objective was simple: make up for all the lost time and get back to the level where she was supposed to be, that is Secondary 4. In other words, in a single year, she had to successfully complete not one but two academic years, her Secondary 2 and 3. “In mid-December that year, I met with the guidance counsellor and explained what I wanted to do. He didn’t really take me seriously but he nevertheless let me take the exams. Today, I have proven I was right because I’m in Secondary 5 and am not behind one single year,” she states with great pride.

What’s more, at the same time as Andréanne began to regain control of her own destiny, she got more actively involved in various extracurricular activities, both sporting and social. With a black belt in karate, she began teaching younger students, as well as giving soccer and hockey lessons. The very fact that she was able to pass on her knowledge was a tremendous source of motivation.

Then in 2008, she undertook a humanitarian aid trip to Burkina Faso and her vision of the world was forever changed. “The trip was an enriching experience from every point of view and above all it gave me a taste for humanitarian aid. I know I want to work in the field of health, probably as a nurse and join Nurses Without Borders.”

This year, in this same spirit of giving back to others, Andréanne suggested to a prework training course teacher that a trip to Ottawa be set up for students who unfortunately aren’t accustomed to or don’t usually have the chance to participate in this kind of activity. She took everything in hand and will act as a genuine accompanying resource person during the expedition.

“There are times in life when you have to make choices if you want to move ahead and this is what I did. Where there’s a will there’s a way. You just need determination and perseverance. I am now a model student because that was my will. Who would have guessed?” Andréanne concludes with a huge smile.

 

For the past 10 years, virtually all the students at Saint-Anselme high school have shared a common passion for one project: a huge theatrical production. Over the years, a total of eight plays have called on the perseverance, commitment, creativity, rigour and determination of students and teachers alike. With plays ranging from the Jungle Book to Aladdin, and the Lion King to Shrek, this year the students will dazzle audiences with an adaptation of the animated film Ice Age. Actors, acrobats, dancers, singers, musicians and technicians will thus be given the chance to showcase their talents before the some 5,000 spectators expected to attend.

For the past 10 years, virtually all the students at Saint-Anselme high school have shared a common passion for one project: a huge theatrical production. Over the years, a total of eight plays have called on the perseverance, commitment, creativity, rigour and determination of students and teachers alike. With plays ranging from the Jungle Book to Aladdin, and the Lion King to Shrek, this year the students will dazzle audiences with an adaptation of the animated film Ice Age. Actors, acrobats, dancers, singers, musicians and technicians will thus be given the chance to showcase their talents before the some 5,000 spectators expected to attend.

Now a major annual event in the Bellechasse region, the play staged by the students at Saint-Anselme high school never ceases to gain in popularity among both students and the general public. In 2001, for the first edition, about fifty students were involved in the project but there are now around 130 active participants every year, not counting all the other students who contribute, each in their own way through their art classes, to the creation of costumes and decors. And the seven performances presented so far have succeeded in attracting no less than 27,000 spectators of all ages.

But what’s really amazing about the school’s involvement and that of the fifteen or so members of staff is how it offers participants professional training in areas that interest them such as music, the circus arts, singing and acting. Upon graduating from high school, many students have actually chosen to pursue studies in the arts following their experience with the theatre troupe.

“When the theatre project really gets off the ground with the auditions, the assigning of roles and so forth, it’s as though the whole school becomes energized. You can feel the effervescence in the air and there’s a renewed team spirit between students from every level,” says guidance counsellor and project coordinator Chantal Boivin.

It should be pointed out that organizing and mounting such a large-scale show requires a major investment on the part of students. Depending on the discipline, they have to attend three lunchtime rehearsals per week, and this doesn’t include those on Wednesday nights and pedagogical days. They never complain and put in the effort required to attain higher levels of quality year after year.

Third time participant Anthony Dion, a Secondary 5 student who will play the part of Sid the motor-mouthed sloth, knows only too well that such an endeavour requires rigour and dedication. “We always strive to do better. For us, it’s a challenge, and for the teachers too who are a great source of motivation. Plus, it creates a great atmosphere between students. It brings us closer together,” he asserts, adding that although he plans to pursue a technical degree in civil engineering, he has every intention of joining amateur theatre troupes in the future.

The theatre project, which also serves as a pedagogical tool, is open to all students as long as they also give priority to their studies. The project can at times become so demanding that some could be tempted to let up in terms of their school work but teachers make sure that this doesn’t happen.

“All students can get involved. We don’t turn anyone away. For those who aren’t used to experiencing success on a daily basis, the project truly encourages them to persevere and surpass themselves. There’s something for everyone,” points out Mrs. Boivin.

The project is so important to young people that a virtual community centred on the event has been set up. And every time a new project is launched, former students come back to attend the performances of their successors, a definite sign of their appreciation towards the people who have made this joint project a reality.

Public presentations of the show will be held at Saint-Anselme high school on April 30 and May 1, 2, 7 and 8. Tickets for this highly colourful student performance can be purchased at 418-885-4431, ext. 1618 or 1624.

If there’s an age when being different is more unnerving it has to be adolescence. Samuel Chourot however had to learn to deal with his differences when only a young child. Afflicted with a very rare disease of the joints, which curbed his growth and was a constant source of pain, the 18-year-old nonetheless never stopped believing in himself even though he got very far behind in his studies at one point. Thanks to those around him and his music, he caught up for all the lost time, returning to the regular program and even joining the international studies program. He is now about to graduate from high school at Saint-Edmond school and his perseverance has proved many a predication wrong.

If there’s an age when being different is more unnerving it has to be adolescence. Samuel Chourot however had to learn to deal with his differences when only a young child. Afflicted with a very rare disease of the joints, which curbed his growth and was a constant source of pain, the 18-year-old nonetheless never stopped believing in himself even though he got very far behind in his studies at one point. Thanks to those around him and his music, he caught up for all the lost time, returning to the regular program and even joining the international studies program. He is now about to graduate from high school at Saint-Edmond school and his perseverance has proved many a predication wrong.

“Despite the hurtful criticisms and my frustration, I decided to hold on to my dreams as tightly as I could. I reckoned my life was worth living and began to gain confidence in myself. I said to myself that, whatever people might say about me, I would be the master of my own destiny. I regained control of my studies, established closer ties with my teachers and showed them that I could do it,” Samuel says quite naturally and without hesitation.

Though today it may seem easy to say for Samuel, it has not always been the case. From the moment he started school, his academic route was riddled with setbacks. Firstly, because of the disease he missed quite a few days of school and was the victim of mockery from other children. Secondly, the fact that Samuel was a shy, withdrawn and solitary boy did nothing to improve his relationships with others. And then the loss of a loved one was just another reason why he came to be, to say the least, a dysfunctional student. As a result, from 1996 to 2004, Samuel changed elementary schools six times and integrated a special education class in 1999.

It was the same story when he began high school. But things were about to change. Enrolled in a temporary individualized learning class, Samuel swore to himself he’d one day come out on top. “I had never really learned to work hard at school. I had to peddle pretty hard in order to make up for all the lost time.”

And then Saint-Edmond high school finally gave him his chance by allowing him to join the regular program in Secondary 2. For three years in a row, Samuel spared no effort, attending remedial classes and even taking summer courses in core subjects. He even went so far as to enrol in the international studies program (PEI) where he would have to get even more involved if he wanted to succeed in keeping on track.

However, in 2008-2009, when in Secondary 4, he was hit by yet another bombshell. He had to stop school for three months to undergo a major operation on his legs. But in spite of everything, he managed to finish his year with excellent grades, though he was obliged to give up the PEI in Secondary 5. He also took advantage of these years to come out of his shell by enrolling in the theatre troupe and becoming a member of the improvisation group.

“Be it at school or in any other area of his life, his determination is highly regarded by all. His inner strength is a source of inspiration at our school,” says school principal Marie-Dominique Taillon with admiration.

But it shouldn’t be assumed that Samuel never felt like giving up, on the contrary. However every single time it was his music that enabled him to hang in there. Even now, a day without his guitar is a day wasted.

“When I was younger I used to suffer from insomnia when I thought of all the work I had to get done. I started playing music and I realized it relaxed me and helped me sleep better. And then it just became a genuine passion.”

So much so that Samuel formed his own rock band, is a member of his school’s Stage band, gives guitar lessons at school during lunch hour and is even helping to organize a benefit concert to raise funds for the school foundation. To prepare for his college studies, Samuel is taking extra lessons and practicing more on his instrument of choice as he hopes to be accepted next year at the Cégep Saint-Laurent in jazz guitar.

“Now that I have achieved success, I realise that by making the effort I can go far and I know that there’s always a way out of any kind of discouraging situation. And even though I’m small because of my disease, I’m no longer afraid to be assertive and make myself heard,” Samuel Chourot states.

If asked to resume in a nutshell Nikolas Gobeil’s type of commitment, the most befitting way would most definitely be MUTUAL AID. Just about everything the Secondary 5 student at Collège Jean de la Mennais gets involved in is aimed at lending a helping hand to others. Whether it’s with the Solidarité-Tiers-Monde committee, the tutoring program, the school’s group of natural helpers or the various volunteer projects organized by the Collège, Nikolas sees everything he does as an opportunity to further develop his innate sense of solidarity.

If asked to resume in a nutshell Nikolas Gobeil’s type of commitment, the most befitting way would most definitely be MUTUAL AID. Just about everything the Secondary 5 student at Collège Jean de la Mennais gets involved in is aimed at lending a helping hand to others. Whether it’s with the Solidarité-Tiers-Monde committee, the tutoring program, the school’s group of natural helpers or the various volunteer projects organized by the Collège, Nikolas sees everything he does as an opportunity to further develop his innate sense of solidarity.

“Nikolas is recognized by both his peers and his teachers as a natural leader who is committed to his community. He has a keen sense of responsibility, as well as creativity, perseverance and remarkable compassion for others. What’s more, he knows how to rally others to his cause and support the commitment of his fellow students,” asserts the school’s community involvement coordinator Yvon Roy.

A brilliant student and a member of the school soccer team for the past seven years, he also explored his artistic talents when he helped paint the walls of the school as part of a major improvement project. However Nikolas comes across as a teenager who is discreet, reserved, calm and above all highly attentive to the needs of others. In truth, he doesn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. His actions speak abundantly of his desire to express himself.

“I have always been very close to my friends and family. In a way I’m like a mediator, and I’m also a good listener. That’s probably why I enjoy the role I play with the group of natural helpers so much,” he explains.

As a member of the group, which is made up of students chosen by their peers, Nikolas offers his help to fellow classmates experiencing personal problems who don’t feel like confiding in an adult. After following preliminary training with social workers in issues related to teenagers such as suicide, addiction and their everyday problems, Nikolas is able to offer his support and a sympathetic ear.

This desire to be of assistance is also transposed into the academic world. As part of the tutoring program for the past two years, he enables younger students to make progress thanks to his skills in mathematics. “I can remember a lot of students who told me that if I hadn’t helped them, they wouldn’t have passed their exams. It’s very rewarding.”

Nikolas’ natural empathy can also be felt outside school walls. Through the community involvement projects organized by the Collège, Nikolas regularly volunteers to go out and work with people in his community. Among other things, he points out his participation on weekends in special activities for young people with physical or mental disabilities. And he talks of his visits to a Montréal Aids hospice where he has made some amazing encounters. He also describes his involvement with youngsters from single-parent families and the role he plays as a sort of big brother. And then there’s his involvement in sports activities organized for people at a rehabilitation centre in Montréal. Once again, all these activities offer him the chance to become more open to others and to understand the types of problems some people face.

“For me, it is a way of establishing special ties with other young people and even adults. When I see the positive effects, it encourages me to go back and do more and it’s something I really enjoy.”

As vice-president of his school’s Solidarité-Tiers-Monde committee for the past two years, Nikolas has also helped bring to life development projects in Uganda and Rwanda. In setting up fund-raising activities with the help of fellow students, last year he did his part in helping build toilet blocs and purchase recreational equipment for a school. As well as actively participating in the fund-raisers, his leadership skills were put to good use above all when the time came to rally others to his cause.

“Involvement is just part of who I am. I wouldn’t be able to live without the smiles and words of thanks and all the other strong emotions that all this brings. And that’s probably why I’d like to pursue a career in medicine. To help people and see them get better,” Nikolas asserts.

Everybody probably still remembers their first day of high school: wobbly knees, arms clutching books, butterflies in your stomach. But at École polyvalente Jonquière, this scenario has now become almost obsolete thanks to the RAME project. Every year, Secondary 5 students become sponsors for all the Secondary 1 students. Eager to get involved and having received the relevant training, the sponsors chaperone the new arrivals throughout the school year and thus become their guides, mentors, confidants and even friends. The passage from elementary to high school thus becomes a lot smoother and the students quickly develop a sense of belonging to their new environment.

Everybody probably still remembers their first day of high school: wobbly knees, arms clutching books, butterflies in your stomach. But at École polyvalente Jonquière, this scenario has now become almost obsolete thanks to the RAME project. Every year, Secondary 5 students become sponsors for all the Secondary 1 students. Eager to get involved and having received the relevant training, the sponsors chaperone the new arrivals throughout the school year and thus become their guides, mentors, confidants and even friends.

 

 “The passage from elementary to high school is a decisive step in a student’s academic path and the experience can be a source of stress and anxiety,” explains Pascale Cormier, a guidance counsellor and the project’s founder. “The project’s main goal therefore is to make this passage smoother, calm their fears and establish a welcoming and safe environment,” she goes on to say.

 

But what does RAME stand for? Relation. Autonomie. Motivation. Entraide (Relationship. Autonomy. Motivation. Mutual Aid). These are the ideals that form the basis of the project, the values that guide the committee’s actions. Every year, RAME can count on 25 to 30 student members in Secondary 5 who act as sponsors for 250 Secondary 1 students. The members of staff and all complementary services professionals (guidance counsellor, social worker, psychologist, supervisors, etc.) are also involved in the project, providing their support to the RAME team. The entire school community at École polyvalente Jonquière therefore play a part in the project, which has become a remarkable example of concerted action and collaboration between students, teachers and school professionals.

 

And the positive repercussions are even more impressive. “The students who arrive at school say they feel safe and protected, and they are happy to be able to confide in their sponsors,” Pascale Cormier points out. Over the years, we’ve noticed a decrease in the number of conflicts between students and their integration is smoother during the first weeks after their arrival.” Moreover, the project is also reassuring for the parents! It’s easy to understand their concern when children leave a school with about 200 pupils and find themselves in a high school that has nearly 1,300! But thanks to the RAME project, their children are welcomed and taken care of, even prior to their first day of school.

 

The RAME committee is set up in the month of May for the following school year. Their initial task therefore consists of contacting each new student to answer their questions and schedule a meeting with them on the first day of school. The student members of the RAME committee are divided into teams of three or four and paired with a Secondary 1 class. “We look after a group of 30 boys who play football. We have a really great relationship with them!” says Gabrielle Paquet, a Secondary 5 student and member of the RAME committee. In addition to offering support and answering their questions, Gabrielle’s team organizes activities that help establish ties and they even offer tutoring in math! “The boys trust us and it’s important to be attentive to their needs,” she says.

 

Pascale Cormier acknowledges that “the commitment exhibited by the Secondary 5 students is simply exceptional.” Indeed, the students are available round the clock throughout the school year. They are with them during recess and lunch hour. They offer their support during class and after school. “The students even agree to have their lockers in the Secondary 1 wing instead of being with their friends in Secondary 5 so that they are even more available. It’s impressive!”

 

Established since 2000-2001, the RAME project has become “a long-standing tradition and among other things enables the students who get involved to develop numerous capabilities and skills that will serve them later on at both the personal and professional levels,” Pascale Cormier points out. “It has given me a taste for social work,” Gabrielle Paquet admits. And it goes without saying that the RAME project is perfectly in line with the objectives of École polyvalente Jonquière’s educational project, the theme of which is “I take up the challenge” for Secondary 1 and “I leave my mark” for Secondary 5. And chances are a number of Secondary 1 students are already looking forward to becoming guides themselves one day…

If the teachers at Cabano high school were to play the game of assigning a student’s name to the words organized, responsible, efficient, persevering and involved, the name Catherine Guimond would most definitely be at the very top of the list. For the Secondary 4 student, all types of action that call on her sense of commitment, be it committees or fund-raisers both at school and in her community, are literally her driving force. President of her year since Secondary 1 and president of the student council this year, she coordinates and participates in numerous fund-raising activities, has set up a student credit union and even brought a local dance troupe back to life.

If the teachers at Cabano high school were to play the game of assigning a student’s name to the words organized, responsible, efficient, persevering and involved, the name Catherine Guimond would most definitely be at the very top of the list. For the Secondary 4 student, all types of action that call on her sense of commitment, be it committees or fund-raisers both at school and in her community, are literally her driving force. “I love to be in charge of events and I don’t think this is something that’s ever going to change,” she doesn’t hesitate to point out.

On the eve of her 16^th birthday, Catherine has amazing self-assurance and quickness of mind. President of her year since Secondary 1, this year she has taken on the role of president of the student council and admits that her duties have led her to maintain relations with many adults, establish a network of contacts and, more importantly, develop her leadership and communication skills.

Moreover, Catherine never passes up an opportunity to convert her dynamism into concrete action. Among other things, two years ago she piloted a project for setting up a student credit union, a project aimed at raising student awareness of the importance of saving. “I had to tour all the classrooms and present numerous arguments to convince students to become members of the credit union,” she recounts, adding that she always hosts the meetings of the board of directors.

This year, Catherine came up will the idea of organizing a rewards trip to Toronto for students in her grade. As a volunteer, she thus takes care of all the logistics and also oversees the fund raising, which will include the presentation of a huge concert. “I’m used to doing this kind of thing. I’ve been helping out with the school’s fund-raising activities, like the orange sale for example, for a long time now. Selling 46,000 pounds of fruit takes a lot of coordinating and that’s what I’m here for.”

But Catherine doesn’t just give of her time at school. For almost six years now, she’s been a referee, marker and coach for the mini-basketball league at Gérard-Collin elementary school in Cabano. The senior member of the team of volunteers, she has maintained this commitment year after year because she never tires of watching the kids keeping active, having fun and bonding with her. “As I intend to be an elementary school teacher, this type of involvement is only natural,” she explains.

Moreover, her love for dance prompted Catherine and one of her friends to bring back to life a dance troupe for young girls in Cabano. Called the Troupe Nocturne, the group of ten dancers took part last year in the local finals of the Secondaire en spectacle contest and they intend to do even better this year. “I am very involved with the troupe. We choose our own choreographies, and we make our own costumes and decors. It’s very democratic. And then I’m also in charge of coordinating rehearsals.”

What’s more, Catherine is so involved at school and in her community that last year she became the youngest person to be nominated in the youth category at the city of Cabano’s gala for volunteers. “I think Catherine is already on her way to becoming a model citizen in society and today we need young people like her, who are committed and become engines of positive change,” the school’s vice-principal Claudine Beaulieu points out.

Disciplined and determined to make things happen, Catherine isn’t satisfied just acting alone. She’s forever seeking to draw the people around her into her projects. She explains that it is possible to get involved without having to give up any of their leisure time or jeopardizing their studies. And she is the living proof because she manages to maintain grade averages ranging from 80% to 95%. She has even become a role model for her younger sister who is following in her footsteps at high school.

“One day I told a friend of mine who was very shy that getting involved in different projects could help. So she did and a few months later she came back to see me to tell me she now finds it easier to speak in public and take her rightful place. It just goes to show that being involved has other advantages too,” Catherine asserts.

If you live in Baie-Comeau and you want to attend a fashion show featuring talented up-and-coming designers, you usually have to either travel to a big city or make do watching it on television. But the tide will turn on 18 February 2011 when a dozen designers are scheduled to present the fruits of their creativity to the Baie-Comeau population. And the most amazing thing about this tour de force is that it was made possible thanks to Chloé Rochette, a Secondary 5 student at Serge-Bouchard high school who was determined to make fashion accessible, while supporting Leucan, a cause particularly close to her heart.

If you live in Baie-Comeau and you want to attend a fashion show featuring talented up-and-coming designers, you usually have to either travel to a big city or make do watching it on television. But the tide will turn on 18 February 2011 when a dozen designers are scheduled to present the fruits of their creativity to the Baie-Comeau population. And the most amazing thing about this tour de force is that it was made possible thanks to Chloé Rochette, a Secondary 5 student at Serge-Bouchard high school who was determined to make fashion accessible, while supporting Leucan, a cause particularly close to her heart.

“It was supposed to be just a final assignment project to obtain my diploma in international studies. But the more I talked about it and started setting things in motion, the bigger the project became, arousing people’s interest and that of the media and becoming a hit among designers. And my project has now attained regional scope,” admits Chloé with a huge smile.

At first however many voices were raised to try and convince Chloé that her project wouldn’t work. Never losing faith and armed with her natural optimism and love for fashion, she nonetheless started the ball rolling, appealing to designers one by one, visiting clothing boutiques to get retailers interested in the event and looking for sponsors who would support her in the project.

It must be said that Chloé was quick to give her project true meaning and adopted a sales pitch that would leave no one indifferent. “To gain international ground in the fashion world, you have to start on the bottom rung and that’s the more rural areas. All the designers listened to what I had to say and when they saw that my project was well structured, they agreed to take part. As for retailers, they too quickly warmed to the idea.”

Because it would have been difficult for all the designers to attend the event in person, Chloé went and interviewed them, filming each of the meetings so that they can be broadcast on the night of the event. “I want to make known up-and-coming Québec fashion designers and show that it’s not always easy to make headway in the field. In addition to getting a chance to see the creators’ latest fashions, spectators will get an inside look at the fashion world,” Chloé explains, adding that she has managed to convince an internationally renowned Québec designer, whose name will be unveiled the evening of the show, to be part of the event.

And because a fashion show wouldn’t be a real fashion show without models, Chloé set up a team of recruiters and organized a casting session. The population were invited to participate through the media and, of the one hundred or so people who paraded before the jury, a total of 20 women, 10 men and 6 children were selected. “To participate, each contender had to donate $5 to Leucan. Moreover, all the profits from the evening itself will also be donated to Leucan. It’s my way of combining business with pleasure,” says Chloé, adding that many of the 300 tickets available have already been sold.

The 100% Québécois fashion show will undeniably have a positive impact on the Baie-Comeau community. The event will bring together fifty or so volunteers, numerous partners have contributed financially or in services, and many boutique owners, some from as far away as Sept-Îles and La Malbaie, have shown an interest in participating. “Chloé has succeeded in sparking enthusiasm among people in her area and her event will support the two causes close to her heart: fashion and Leucan,” points out Diane Boivin, coordinator of the international program.

For Chloé, who dreams of becoming a top designer herself one day, the project was a true learning experience and is just the first in a long list she plans to carry out. “The biggest lesson I’ve learned from this adventure is that even though some people may try to deter us, we have to believe in ourselves and strive to fulfil our dreams. My project is a perfect example,” she proudly asserts.

With his passion for communications, Secondary 5 student Maxime Simard has tons of ideas for bringing renewed vitality to Curé-Hébert high school. And he acts on them! Blessed with an amazing knack for organizing events and managing projects, Maxime Simard has succeeded in leaving his mark throughout his high school studies. One of his most vivid memories of those years will undoubtedly be the participation of famous host Éric Salvail in last year’s Secondaire en spectacle, an event he planned and emceed. Maxime Simard has lots of imagination and is always willing to get involved in a multitude of projects with the aim of offering his fellow students rewarding activities and experiences.

With his passion for communications, Secondary 5 student Maxime Simard has tons of ideas for bringing renewed vitality to Curé-Hébert high school. And he acts on them! Blessed with an amazing knack for organizing events and managing projects, Maxime Simard has succeeded in leaving his mark throughout his high school studies. One of his most vivid memories of those years will undoubtedly be the participation of famous host Éric Salvail in last year’s Secondaire en spectacle, an event he planned and emceed. Maxime Simard has lots of imagination and is always willing to get involved in a multitude of projects with the aim of offering his fellow students rewarding activities and experiences.

A creative and expressive student, Maxime Simard began getting involved at Curé-Hébert high school in his very first year. With his interests in a variety of fields such as communications and politics, Maxime deems that “involvement is a way of trying our hand at everything.” And judging by what he has accomplished so far, it is obvious that he has a very unique ability to bring his ides to life.

Maxime has been on the school’s student council since he started high school. After being class representative, he went on to hold the position of communications minister for two years and this year was elected as his school’s prime minister. “It was when I joined the student council that I realized I actually liked politics!” For Maxime, commitment is a means of “discovering one’s passions and finding one’s direction in life.” He tells everybody they should get involved! In fact this is why he chose to do so himself and enable other students to participate in activities, discover new interests and get involved themselves.

In addition to his participation in the student radio and his contributions to the school newspaper, Maxime has helped organize numerous events at school, much to the delight of his fellow students! First of all, for three years, Maxime planned and then wrote the texts for the Secondaire en spectacle event with the help of three other students. “For last year’s edition, we wanted a huge show! Having selected television shows as the theme for the event, I plucked up my courage and, armed with perseverance, set about getting in contact with Éric Salvail, a well-known Québec television host,” he explains. He started making enquiries as to how to contact Mr. Salvail, who finally accepted to participate in the show! “I travelled to Montréal to the TVA studios and had the chance to spend an hour with him.” It was during the meeting that Maxime filmed a video with the host, which was then broadcast as part of the Secondaire en spectacle event. “The evening was a success from start to finish!” he proudly asserts.

Again with the idea of making his school more dynamic, Maxime helped organize two full days of activities, one for Halloween and the other for Spring Fest. And he is currently planning the very first country festival at Curé-Hébert high school! The event, which will be held in spring 2011, will undoubtedly be an enjoyable experience for the entire school community. “There’ll be something for everyone!” Maxime asserts. “We have prepared all kinds of activities so that everybody can take part and have fun together,” he adds with enthusiasm. 

Maxime is involved to such an extent at his school that he decided to help increase its visibility by creating a Website. So as to gather as much information as possible, he went around and talked to students, teachers and staff members. And Maxime acknowledges that his little investigation “established greater dialogue between the entire school community and brought us all closer together.” With his openness to others and natural curiosity, Maxime has shown he has everything it takes to fulfil his dream of becoming a journalist. Without losing sight of the importance of maintaining a balance between his studies and his involvement, Maxime Simard knows that 10, 15 or 20 years down the road he will still be just as committed, if not more so.

Believing in young people and their potential is the prerogative of everyone at a school. And Katherina Dufour is a perfect example because, even though her specific post at Cavelier-De LaSalle high school is secretary for Secondary 1, it is above all thanks to her dedication to setting up sports teams that she has set herself apart. She has managed to establish a total of 18 teams in 9 disciplines over a period of only four years and it’s therefore not surprising that students give her the high five when they pass her in the hall and thank her for her words of encouragement.

Believing in young people and their potential is the prerogative of everyone at a school. And Katherina Dufour is a perfect example because, even though her specific post at Cavelier-De LaSalle high school is secretary for Secondary 1, it is above all thanks to her dedication to setting up sports teams that she has set herself apart. She has managed to establish a total of 18 teams in 9 disciplines over a period of only four years and it’s therefore not surprising that students give her the high five when they pass her in the hall and thank her for her words of encouragement.

At the age of only 29, Katherina Dufour is now the person who epitomizes the revival of student sport at Cavelier-De LaSalle high school. When she arrived in 2006, the sole extracurricular sports team had just been banished from the regional league for poor sportsmanship and the school administration had decided to do away with student sport forever. But the decision was short lived because, the following year, Katherina suggested the Secondary 1 girls’ basketball team be re-established.

“When I was a teen, I wasn’t always easy to handle either and I was searching for myself. But I fell in love with basketball and that’s what kept me in school and enabled me to pursue my college studies. I know sports can be a key factor to success and I was anxious for the school to explore this avenue,” she points out.

Katherina had previous experience with sports teams, having been a coach for a short period at another school, so it was easy for her to set up the first team. The following year, the school added another basketball team and two soccer teams. Student sport was definitely on the up and up, but the battle however had not been won.

“At the first regional coaches’ meetings, I recall some of them getting up to say it was out of the question that their teams come and play at our school. We had a very bad reputation. But they trusted me because they knew me.”

Today, Cavelier-De LaSalle is a place where student sport is a source of pride for both students and staff while fostering a sense of belonging at school. A total of exactly 166 students are members of one of the 18 teams competing in basketball, soccer, ice hockey, cosom hockey, flag football, swimming, volleyball, track and field, and cheerleading. Students and teachers alike even proudly don clothes sporting the colours of the Centaures.

And the reason sports have become so popular is unquestionably because Katherina Dufour has gone well beyond simply promoting athletic performance. She believes that the success of student sport hinges above all on sports ethics and the students’ ability to see sports not just as a game but also as a way of surpassing themselves and a source of personal achievement.

“Last year, I developed a project that set out a methodical system for monitoring our athletes, not only on the playing field but also in their daily lives at school, and submitted it to the administration. The concept enables problems to be detected as they crop up and then referred to the appropriate resources,” points out the person in charge of student sport.

This year, Katherina, who is the mother of two little girls, also agreed to be the sports coordinator for LaSalle’s network of elementary schools. To compensate, she has delegated certain tasks to her team of coaches and has even established a program for young coaches that enables Secondary 5 students to try their hand at coaching.

The entire school staff and more importantly the students themselves acknowledge forthwith that Katherina Dufour has played a major role in improving the atmosphere at Cavelier-De LaSalle. Her actions have enabled students to stick to their studies and experience success. Moreover, her constant presence at the games played by the various teams bears witness to a true sense of commitment towards young people.

“All the players know and respect her, and she is perceived as a leader. We know she works very hard and never counts the hours she devotes to sport. We are always proud when we win a game and she comes to congratulate us. She taught me to persevere and surpass myself,” asserts Brad Broadley Edwards, one of Cavelier-De LaSalle’s many athletes.

Sparking students’ interest in the sciences often requires more than just chalk and a blackboard. Cynthia Prévost, a science and technology and math teacher at Les Compagnons-de-Cartier, therefore offers an approach that calls on a good dose of creativity, a dash of entrepreneurship and a good measure of passion. The combination of all these ingredients has produced an alternative method of teaching using hands-on activities such as lunchtime science workshops called Midis de la science and the Folies de bois et d’énergie project, both of which are becoming increasingly popular among students.

Sparking students’ interest in the sciences often requires more than just chalk and a blackboard. Cynthia Prévost, a science and technology and math teacher at Les Compagnons-de-Cartier, therefore offers an approach that calls on a good dose of creativity, a dash of entrepreneurship and a good measure of passion. The combination of all these ingredients has produced an alternative method of teaching using hands-on activities such as lunchtime science workshops called Midis de la science that are becoming increasingly popular among students.

Greatly inspired by her father who was a high school physics teacher, Cynthia Prévost chose education because it is a true passion and because of her love for the sciences. Not those that amount to incomprehensible chemical formulas and algebraic functions, but the ones that help us understand everyday life and provide food for thought.

“Students start off in the science class hating it, so you have to grab their interest differently, by popularizing the sciences and making them accessible. My father used to say: “When you work with young people, you’re not working with a hammer!” I therefore try and find ways to make myself interesting so as to pique their scientific curiosity,” the teacher admits with a chuckle.

Upon her arrival at Les Compagnons-de-Cartier high school, Cynthia Prévost quickly integrated into the existing team and set forth her ideas. “If young people don’t go towards the sciences, the sciences must go towards them,” she probably said to herself.

So Cynthia and her fellow teachers unanimously agreed to move the science lab out into the corridor during lunch hour and, thanks to her initiative, she immediately changed the students’ perception of the academic subject.

She then set about establishing the Midis de la science project. During these tremendously popular workshops (over 40 students are enrolled), three teachers and three technicians offer fun and amusing activities that allow participants from all grades to discover such things as how to make lip balm, fizzy candies and even kaleidoscopes. And they can then take their experiments home with them.

“Cynthia quickly realized that you have to adapt to your students and enable them to take part in stimulating activities with enriching content. Science labs have become privileged places for learning,” recounts Natalie Blais, vice-principal of special education and Cycle 1.

As for school principal Danielle Grenier, she deems that the energetic, enterprising and dedicated teacher’s contribution has a highly positive impact for students, as well as the entire teaching staff. “All of Cynthia’s initiatives are automatically undertaken in collaboration with her colleagues, whether it’s helping students prepare for the Expo-sciences Bell event, remedial periods in science or any other science activity during the day, after school or on weekends. Cynthia is always available,” she points out.

This same determination also prompted her, with the help of colleagues, to develop and submit the Folies de bois et d’énergie project as part of the Place aux jeunes initiative piloted by the Conférence régionale des élus (CRÉ) for the Québec City area. The school was thus awarded a $12,500 grant, which helped supplement the services offered in the sciences with organized outings, guest lecturers, the purchase of new equipment and so forth. And she became the project manager for the entire school year.

The close ties she develops with her students as well as young people in general can also be attributed to the remedial periods she offers and to her involvement in the humanitarian aid trip to Peru planned for summer 2011.

“Our youth are wonderful and full of potential. By taking the opportunity to get to know them better during activities outside the classroom we can establish stronger ties with them. That’s why I get involved and, in the not so distant future, I would really like to be able to launch other clubs such as robotics or aviation so as to give students the chance to reach their full potential,” Cynthia Prévost says in conclusion.

Affectionately nicknamed “Mme Verte” (Mrs. Green) by the students at École polyvalente Arvida, English teacher Marie-Josée Corneau stands out from the crowd. Ever since she embarked on her career nearly 20 years ago, her love for nature has prompted her to set up numerous far-reaching projects aimed at raising awareness among young people and the general public of the importance of environmental protection. “My mission as a teacher is to educate.” And for Marie-Josée Corneau, this mission extends far beyond the walls of the classroom. She decided to make environmental concerns her leitmotif and has chosen to get involved so as to give young people the chance to do their part. 

Affectionately nicknamed “Mme Verte” (Mrs. Green) by the students at École polyvalente Arvida, English teacher Marie-Josée Corneau stands out from the crowd. Ever since she embarked on her career nearly 20 years ago, her love for nature has prompted her to set up numerous far-reaching projects aimed at raising awareness among young people and the general public of the importance of environmental protection. “My mission as a teacher is to educate.” And for Marie-Josée Corneau, this mission extends far beyond the walls of the classroom. She decided to make environmental concerns her leitmotif and has chosen to get involved so as to give young people the chance to do their part.   

For Marie-Josée Corneau, teaching is both a privilege and a vocation. “Over the years, I have come to realise the important role teachers play as resource persons and role models for students,” she confides. “In adolescence, young people are trying to define their identity, to find their bearings in life. That’s why every day they fuel my desire to work with them and make them more aware of social commitment and the role they can play in society.” For almost 20 years now, Marie-Josée Corneau has been striving to do just this, with young people, for young people and for the environment! 

Marie-Josée Corneau’s love of nature dates back to childhood and she thus decided to make environmental protection her main battle horse. She recalls having always had a reverential respect for trees, animals, rivers and streams. In fact, “my father is an avid recycler! At home, everything had an alternative purpose.” 

The main objective of all the activities she hosts at school is their educational reach. “I want to educate, arouse interest and make learning easier for students,” she explains. To do so, as well as including environmental issues in her teaching curriculum, she thinks up, develops and coordinates a variety of projects that have a positive impact both at school and in the community. Among other things, six years ago she established the Earth Day project, making École polyvalente Arvida the first high school in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region to celebrate Earth Day. 

But the project goes far beyond simply promoting Earth Day. Throughout the school year, Mrs. Corneau organizes awareness activities that all culminate on April 22. The Sacs d’épicerie activity is just one example. “It is carried out in partnership with the local IGA supermarket,” explains École polyvalente Arvida principal Danielle Racine. And for the project, the school even received the 2007 Essor regional award in the Partnership category for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region.” 

What exactly does the activity consist of? During the school year, as part of the English course, students carry out research and do translations about subjects relating to the environment. In collaboration with the arts teacher Carole Brisson, the students then transpose the themes into visual and written concepts on recycled paper shopping bags. And it really works! Last year, the students at school created more than 500 bags. “They are true works of art!” Marie-Josée Corneau says with admiration. 

From one year to the next, Mrs. Corneau constantly creates new activities that are added to the Earth Day project: poster and drawing contests, an ecological video vignette competition and lectures in association with the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. On top of all this, there’s her involvement with the school’s green team and the annual activity aimed at reforesting the banks of the Jean-Deschênes river that she takes part in with her students, as well as her commitment to making École polyvalente Arvida the very first Brundtland green high school in the region, a status it achieved in 2010. It was not for nothing that Marie-Josée Corneau received the Porteur d’espoir award in 2009, which was presented to her in person by the Minister of the Environment and Mr. Jacques Languirand!

With key environmentalists such as David Suzuki and Laure Waridel as her role models, “Marie-Josée has become, according to students Laurence Gaudreault and Marie-Septembre Larouche, an example to be followed.” And why not do as they suggest? “Let’s draw inspiration from Marie-Josée Corneau and make tangible gestures that will become beacons of hope.”

It’s not always easy being a teenager and if you have to contend with being different from others it can become a real nightmare. Just ask Simon Bastarache, a Secondary 5 student at Compagnons-de-Cartier high school who not only had to learn to live with a nonverbal learning disorder resulting in learning disabilities and problems handling interpersonal relationships, but also had to cope with rejection and bullying. But because there’s always a way to turn things around, Simon took the situation in hand and has gone from being a not very popular student whose academic success was uncertain to a committed student who now inspires others.

It’s not always easy being a teenager and if you have to contend with being different from others it can become a real nightmare. Just ask Simon Bastarache, a Secondary 5 student at Compagnons-de-Cartier high school who not only had to learn to live with a nonverbal learning disorder resulting in learning disabilities and problems handling interpersonal relationships, but also had to cope with rejection and bullying. But because there’s always a way to turn things around, Simon took the situation in hand and has gone from being a not very popular student whose academic success was uncertain to a committed student who now inspires others.

In terms of his schoolwork, it was at the end of elementary school that things started to get complicated for Simon. Because of his disorder, he had manifest difficulties in mathematics and science. And then of course there were the group projects he had to work on. In view of his problem interpreting people’s nonverbal cues, it was extremely difficult for him to interact and socialize with others.

“That’s why I was very shy and kept to myself when I started high school. I was afraid to go towards others and I used to skirt the walls so that people wouldn’t notice me. I was always alone. And because I never took the first step, nobody wanted to be with me. I isolated myself, but the others also cut me off and bullied me verbally,” recounts Simon, who is now 17 years old.

Luckily for Simon, he has always been able to count on his parents and teachers to support and guide him with his schoolwork. He spent many an evening with his head in a book, trying to understand and find answers. Without ever giving up hope, he simply increased his efforts. However, his social life still suffered and it was thanks to the trust he had in those around him that he was able to turn the situation around.

“I decided to talk and open up to my family and teachers. They gave me the encouragement I needed and, in Secondary 3, I began getting involved in extracurricular activities so as break free from the perception others had of me,” Simon explains, adding that his previous experience in the scouts had already helped him accept the fact that he was different and develop his self-esteem.

He began by joining the school’s improvisation league, which proved to be quite a challenge for someone who has difficulty understanding nonverbal communication. But from that moment on, he began carving out a place for himself and his classmates got to know the real Simon. He finally began establishing his first true circle of friends.

As Simon is also a photography enthusiast, he suggested that a club be set up at school. With the help of a teacher, he created the Photo Club, which was then given the mandate of covering school events to supply photos for the school’s website and student newspaper.

But Simon’s greatest pride and joy is the launch of a support group at school aimed at helping students going through difficult periods. And Simon’s initiative was also given concrete form on Facebook where he established the Groupe d’entraide pour les victimes d’intimidation (GEVI), a support group for victims of bullying that already has more than 450 members. Providing access to awareness videos, personal accounts and links to useful resources, the group’s strength lies in the fact that the subject of bullying is approached in an upfront and relevant manner.

“I never thought it would be so popular. There are members from all over and several have even written to me to thank me for setting it up. I was a victim of bullying and I know that you need to find help in order to break the silence and pull through.”

This year, Simon will be graduating from high school, a dream he would never have thought possible only a few years ago. He persevered, overcame the hurdles, took initiatives and managed to turn things to his advantage. This year, he was even elected as his class representative for the student parliament.

“Simon has had to contend with a lot of difficulties, but his willpower and determination have enabled him to progress. Because he never threw in the towel and has expended a great deal of effort, he’s found his rightful place and earned the respect of all his fellow students,” says school psychologist Renée Fiset with admiration.

Talking about resolve and perseverance with Karolanne Bourdages is a bit like discussing the weather with a meteorologist. She knows what she’s talking about. Every single day of the week, the 15-year-old has to travel an hour and a half morning and night to get to and from school. And every day of the week, she intensifies her efforts so as to triumph over her dyslexia and thus improve her grades. She attends remedial classes three or four times a week and receives private tutoring twice a week. And she does all this with the goal of living out her dream of joining Canada’s national women’s soccer team and competing in the Olympics!

Talking about resolve and perseverance with Karolanne Bourdages is a bit like discussing the weather with a meteorologist. She knows what she’s talking about. Every single day of the week, the 15-year-old has to travel an hour and a half morning and night to get to and from school. And every day of the week, she intensifies her efforts so as to triumph over her dyslexia and thus improve her grades. She attends remedial classes three or four times a week and receives private tutoring twice a week. And she does all this with the goal of living out her dream of joining Canada’s national women’s soccer team and competing in the Olympics!

“School has never really been easy for me, even elementary school. Sports have therefore become my source of motivation because it’s on the soccer field that I can find a sense of achievement. But to be part of the sports concentration program, I need to have good grades and that’s my biggest challenge” the young Secondary 2 student at Des Sources high school in Dollard-des-Ormeaux timidly admits.

When Karolanne says that school has never been easy, she does so in all honesty. Suffering from very severe dyslexia, which makes her ability to learn and even simply retain information highly complex, she recounts that until very recently her grades were well below the passing mark.

“To join the sports concentration program, you need to obtain grades of 75% and upwards and because I’m dyslexic, it’s not an easy task. I applied to three different schools before being accepted at Des Sources high school. This year I finally feel motivated again and, even though my grades aren’t the best, I have succeeded in improving them a lot,” she points out, adding that every weekend on Saturday morning she goes to neurofeedback training, which stimulates the areas of her brain that are less responsive due to her dyslexia.

It is this renewed source of motivation that prompts Karolanne to get up every morning around 5:15 a.m. and rush to get ready so as to arrive at school on time. And this same motivation also pushes her to make the most of all the available means for succeeding and improving her academic performance. At the start of the school year, she even decided to only participate in three out of five training sessions so that she could devote more time to her studies. It should also be pointed out that despite a reduced course load, the subject matter has to be seen in its entirety and Karolanne has to take the time required to fully assimilate it. She uses a special computer that helps her with text comprehension and repeatedly attends remedial classes and private lessons, taking advantage of every opportunity to get ahead. And Karolanne’s grades are truly improving because she has now increased her soccer training sessions to four times a week.

“Karolanne is a hard-working student who always keeps a smile on her face. The hurdles she faces because of her dyslexia are challenging, but her efforts will definitely pay off. In fact, she is one of the youngest players to be accepted in the provincial program,” recounts Pierre Lapointe, the coordinator of the sports concentration program at Des Sources high school.

Thanks to Karolanne’s athletic performance, she was also accepted at the national high performance centre for soccer located in Laval, which for her represents a springboard towards her dream of joining the Canadian team.

“Without my family’s support and presence, I wouldn’t be making as much headway,” Karolanne is quick to point out. In fact, my brother is a source of inspiration because he too has always worked hard to progress in his chosen sport and he’s never lost heart. For me, school is the biggest hurdle, but I will never lose heart either.”

And when you ask Karolanne which of her ambitions she finds the most demanding, obtaining her diploma or eventually being selected for the Canadian team, she doesn’t hesitate long before answering. “Graduating from high school is my greatest challenge. As for soccer, I’m already doing all I can and I know I’ll succeed. In both cases, I will never give up even if it’s sometimes really hard.”

For Marc-Olivier Boily, a student at Kénogami high school, his years in secondary school were anything but easy. A child born prematurely, he suffers from dysphasia and memory problems that lead to significant learning disabilities. But despite the fact that all the prognoses were against him, Marc-Olivier decided to prove to the world that he was capable of successfully completing his high school studies. Thanks to his willpower, courage and perseverance, Marc-Olivier has won his wager: he is about to graduate from high school without ever having failed a year! An achievement he owes to his incredible inner strength and his parents’ relentless support.

For Marc-Olivier Boily, a student at Kénogami high school, his years in secondary school were anything but easy. A child born prematurely, he suffers from dysphasia and memory problems that lead to significant learning disabilities. But despite the fact that all the prognoses were against him, Marc-Olivier decided to prove to the world that he was capable of successfully completing his high school studies. Thanks to his willpower, courage and perseverance, Marc-Olivier has won his wager: he is about to graduate from high school without ever having failed a year! An achievement he owes to his incredible inner strength and his parents’ relentless support.

 

When Marc-Olivier was only a child, a number of doctors and specialists told his parents that he would probably never be able to talk... But Marc-Olivier refused to accept this verdict and, when still very young, armed himself with the courage and determination needed to triumph over his difficulties. “I wanted to show everyone what I was capable of,” he begins by pointing out.

 

Although at the beginning of high school other students laughed at him and put him down, they now praise his resolve. “The young boy entering Secondary 1 whom I welcomed to our school five years ago accompanied by his mother was diffident and shy,” recalls Marie-Josée Simard, vice-principal at Kénogami high school. “After spending five years here, he is now more mature, more self-confident and has greater faith in his abilities.”

 

Marc-Olivier owes this success to his amazing strength of character, but also to the relentless support of his parents. “I really admire my mother for having helped me so much. Without her, I may just have given up,” Marc-Olivier acknowledges. In truth, ever since he began high school, Marc-Olivier has had to work twice if not three times as hard! “I saw every second, every minute, every hour as a chance to read, study and revise. I put many things aside in my free time so as to devote all my efforts to succeeding.” For example, it would take Marc-Olivier three or four hours to learn and memorize something that would take most students about fifteen minutes. Today, he no longer counts the hours spent rereading, taking notes and relearning.

 

In order to fulfil his dream of obtaining his high school diploma, Marc-Olivier also received help from a number of professionals, in particular at Kénogami high school. “During my first years in high school, I attended remedial classes given by teachers wishing to help students experiencing difficulties,” Marc-Olivier explains. “It really helped me and now I don’t even need to go anymore!”

 

Everyone acknowledges that Marc-Olivier has made tremendous headway over the past five years. Last year, when in Secondary 4, he even received the most persevering student award. According to Marie-Josée Simard: “Marc-Olivier is our ambassador for school perseverance! He is an example for all students at our school as well as for all dysphasic children.”

 

“I saw high school as a huge mountain. But I wanted to prove that I was capable.” Right now, “Marc-Olivier is ready to move on and fulfil his career goals,” asserts Marie-Josée Simard. Indeed, in only five years, Marc-Olivier has managed to prove that determination and perseverance can take you a long way... His dream? To become a chef and one day open his own restaurant. We know that Marc-Olivier has the inner strength, courage and resolve it takes and he will without doubt be able to fulfil his wildest dreams. To all those who feel like totally giving up, Marc-Olivier points out that: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way! I’m living proof that, even with disabilities, everybody can succeed. Our inner strengths should never be kept hidden but should instead be showcased. We shouldn’t be afraid to reveal them to all.”    

 

The word half-measure doesn’t exist in Rachel Sylvestre’s vocabulary. When she gets involved in a project, she gives it her all, and she is just as demanding of herself as she is of others. President of the student council, member of the governing board, the green committee, the world solidarity committee, the school’s technical team, and the prom committee, and above all a great enthusiast of team sports, the Secondary 5 student at Paul-Gérin-Lajoie-d’Outremont hopes that her high school years will have been a personally beneficial and formative experience but also that her efforts will have contributed to enhancing the overall quality of life at her high school.

The word half-measure doesn’t exist in Rachel Sylvestre’s vocabulary. When she gets involved in a project, she gives it her all, and she is just as demanding of herself as she is of others. President of the student council, member of the governing board, the green committee, the world solidarity committee, the school’s technical team, and the prom committee, and above all a great enthusiast of team sports, the Secondary 5 student at Paul-Gérin-Lajoie-d’Outremont hopes that her high school years will have been a personally beneficial and formative experience but also that her efforts will have contributed to enhancing the overall quality of life at her high school.

“I don’t take my involvement lightly. Whether it’s in sports or elsewhere, I always want people to give it their best, to surpass themselves. And although it doesn’t always work out that way, you have to persevere and forge ahead. That’s how you can make progress,” she energetically points out.

Rachel owes much of her infectious determination to her love of sports. Enrolled in a program focusing on physical education, she admits forthwith that she’s not sure she would have been as happy at school if it wasn’t for the opportunity of use up her surplus energy on a daily basis.

Over the years, she has tried all kinds of sport disciplines, including trampoline, gymnastics and the trapeze, but it is through team sports that she has found her true source of motivation and means of surpassing herself. At school, she is a member of the competitive cheerleading team, with which she trains three to five hours a week, as well as the volleyball team, taking part in up to three training sessions per week. And outside of school, she has been on the MRO Griffon intercity soccer team for the past eight years.

She transposes all the self-discipline acquired through sports to each and every project she gets involved in. This is the case, for example, with the school’s green committee where she collaborates with other student and adult members in order to endow the school with an action plan focused on sustainable development.

“When I began high school, nothing was being done to protect the environment. We had to start from scratch but we began by making concrete gestures, such as installing recycling bins and converting the cafeteria into an eco-friendly cafeteria thanks to a switch to reusable tableware,” Rachel explains.

“But the hardest part of our work,” she goes on to say “was raising awareness among the entire school community, and getting them to change their ways so that their actions respect the environment. It’s a gradual process but I’m aware of the tremendous headway we’ve made over the past few years.”

Rachel has definitely played her part in the changes taking place within her school. She is much more than just a soldier taking part in the action, as she speaks out when the time comes for submitting new ideas and debating various issues. She allows her leadership skills to shine forth as a member of the student council and the governing board. As such, she is in direct contact with the school administration and has thus learned how to play a highly proactive role in defending the interests of the students she represents.

And the same can be said of her work with the world solidarity committee, where she helps develop strategies in order to build bridges between international development organizations and her school. “We strive to take action that will help bring about change. We participated in the Marche 2/3 walk and we also plan to attend the upcoming Millennium Summit. We also established a fund-raising campaign for Japan following the earthquake,” she explains.

Rachel and her fellow students will soon be flying to Argentina to spend almost two weeks doing a combination of humanitarian work and cultural exploration. For Rachel, who hopes to pursue a career in international law, the chance to go out and see the world is in line with an overall course of action aimed at finding her rightful place in society.

“I feel like seeing the world and discovering the cultural wealth of other countries. In doing so, I will better understand the world we live in and see how I can go about improving it, exactly like I have tried to do at school,” she says in conclusion.

In September 2000, when all 189 United Nations member states agreed to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they accepted to help eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. At the time, the ambitious project used an extensive global partnership, of which Canada was a member, as its springboard. Unfortunately, eleven years later, it is obvious that the vast majority of citizens have never heard of the project. It was therefore with the aim of bringing these goals to light and mobilizing public support for successfully achieving them that the students and members of staff at Saint-Laurent high school joined forces and established the 2011 Youth Millennium Summit, which brought together close to 1,000 young people in Montréal on May 12 and 13.

In September 2000, when all 189 United Nations member states agreed to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they accepted to help eradicate extreme poverty by 2015. At the time, the ambitious project used an extensive global partnership, of which Canada was a member, as its springboard. Unfortunately, eleven years later, it is obvious that the vast majority of citizens have never heard of the project. It was therefore with the aim of bringing these goals to light and mobilizing public support for successfully achieving them that the students and members of staff at Saint-Laurent high school joined forces and established the 2011 Youth Millennium Summit, which brought together close to 1,000 young people in Montréal on May 12 and 13.

Though many people may not yet have heard about the MDGs, the same cannot be said of the students and staff who spend their days at Saint-Laurent high school. In 2009, they organized the Green Parade and the following year took up the same concept with their Blue Parade. This year, the Youth Millennium Summit is the logical follow-up to these two activities and only the first step towards two similar and upcoming events that will bring together even more young people.

“This year, we succeeded in rallying nearly 1,000 students but in 2013 we hope to attract 5,000 and in 2015 as many as 20,000, who we hope will come from several dozen French-speaking countries,” points out Dominic Vézina, the school’s counsellor in spiritual life and community involvement and the person in charge of the project.

What sets this year’s project apart is that it has been embraced by the entire staff at all three pavilions at Saint-Laurent high school. Each in their own way, the teachers have all integrated themes linked to one of the eight MDGs in their teaching curriculum. For example, the required reading for the French class included a book about the goals, in Ethics students were asked to produce videos and in Drama were encouraged to create literary works. “We want students to keep hearing about the eight goals and encourage them to pool their efforts, in their own way, to help attain them. It was mainly the 2^nd and 7^th goals that sparked the students’ interest, that is to say those related to universal primary education and environmental sustainability,” Mr. Vézina points out.

Throughout the school year, students made gestures to help, at their own level, in attaining the MDGs. Among other things, they dedicated the equivalent of 40 days of volunteer work to Moisson Montréal, an organization that helps fight extreme poverty and hunger. During the Summit, a number of solutions such as this were put forward to encourage young people to do their part, but also to motivate other young people in their circle of friends to make similar gestures at their own school.

“By taking small actions individually, if there are a lot of us doing so we will eventually manage to bring about change. For me, I feel particularly drawn to environmental sustainability and that’s why I got involved in the organization of the Summit,” says Secondary 4 student Wafaa Naour.

In truth, there are a total of 65 students and some forty teachers who followed Wafaa’s lead, giving of their time since last September in the preparation of the event which was held simultaneously with Oxfam Québec’s huge 2/3 walk in celebration of global citizenship and international solidarity. The Summit enabled several renowned speakers such as Dr. Dominique Corti and photojournalist Éric St-Pierre to voice their ideas, but also allowed the students to showcase the fruit of their labour, for example during a parade featuring eight tableaux representing each of the MDGs.

“I think that young people are the key to attaining these objectives. Their enthusiasm is palpable and we are convinced that it can do nothing but increase over the next few years. I’ve already set my hopes on the Bell Centre for the 2015 Summit!” says Dominic Vézina, adding that a lot of work still remains to be done until then, starting with sending a delegation to the 2012 Sommet de la francophonie in Kinshasa so as to launch an appeal for the support of young people in other French-speaking countries.

Since birth, Katy Jalbert-Mercier, a student at Louis-Jacques-Casault high school in Montmagny, has had to learn to live with a major visual impairment that has led to just as significant learning disabilities. Without ever getting discouraged, she kept her head held high, remained optimistic and forged ahead in order to overcome the hurdles and attain her personal goals for success. Katy is now 16 years of age and is finally enrolled in the Secondary 1 level of a vocational training program in semi-specialized trades (FMSS), is a member of the Opération Enfant Soleil committee at her school and was even elected class president.

There are a great many reasons why some children have difficulty keeping up with their studies from the moment they start school. For Katy Jalbert-Mercier, a student at Louis-Jacques-Casault high school in Montmagny, the reason took the shape of a major visual impairment that led to just as significant learning disabilities. Without ever getting discouraged – and there were many occasions when this could have happened – Katy kept her head held high, remained optimistic and forged ahead in order to overcome the hurdles and attain her personal goals for success.

Katy is now 16 years of age and is finally enrolled in the Secondary 1 level of a vocational training program in semi-specialized trades (FMSS). Although the path that led her there was long and at times hard going, she never lost faith. “Looking back, there were many occasions when I could have become discouraged but I didn’t. I continued to strive and make great efforts, telling myself that one day I would get where I wanted to be,” she proudly asserts.

It should be pointed out that before entering high school, Katy had to work assiduously in order to complete her elementary education and finally pass Grade 6. During her first three years at Louis-Jacques-Casault however, she was enrolled in an individualized learning class and was obliged, without ever complaining or giving up, to repeat time and time again the same studies, exercises and homework in order to at long last begin high school. Then, at the end of the 2008-2009 school year, her efforts were rewarded. “It took a long time, but I knew I’d succeed. This year, my efforts have paid off because everything is going well with my schoolwork and I haven’t fallen behind. It’s incredible. I even decided to double my weekly goal in terms of the amount of schoolwork I wanted to get done and I’ve respected my deadlines,” she admits happily.

Graduating to a higher level of study has changed a great many things for Katy. For a start, when she enrolled in the FMSS program, she had to find a place to pursue her training course that would enable her to take her first tentative steps on the job market. Yet again, her strong determination served her well. Following a certain number of refusals, Katy was finally accepted at a restaurant where she now works as assistant cook. “This work experience has given me a sense of achievement and this is something that is important to me.”

“Katy’s commitment and determination to succeed shines forth both during her training and in the classroom. She has an unremitting desire to surpass herself and the requirements inherent to her level of training,” recounts Nancy Deschênes, her training course supervisor.

And as it is easy to acquire a taste for success and for pushing oneself one step further, Katy even decided to join the Opération Enfant Soleil committee at her school. She thus helps organize fund-raising activities and hugely contributes to the sale of products.

To crown it all, Katy was elected class president and as such has been able to discover a community life that until then had been completely unknown to her. She attends various meetings, makes sure that the information is transmitted to her fellow classmates and encourages other students to participate in school activities.

“What surprises me about Katy is that, ever since she began school, despite her limited vision and significant learning disabilities, she has never lost her smile and continuously makes headway,” says her teacher Karina Bilodeau with admiration.

It goes without saying that there are trials and tribulations that still lie ahead for Katy but now that she lives her life to the full and takes pride in her accomplishments, she feels as though a lot of things are finally within her grasp. However, getting ahead of herself is simply out of the question. With her feet firmly on the ground, she takes things one step at a time and her main goal for the moment is to pass Secondary 1. “I have a clear vision of where I want to be in the future and I persevere despite the obstacles. I have come to realize that you must never give up and I think this is something that will help me throughout my life,” she concludes with a smile in her voice.

“Monotony? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” could candidly be declared by Vivianne St-Gelais, a Secondary 5 student at Séminaire Saint-François, if you asked her about how she spends her time. Event hosting, theatre, singing, dance, karate, the student newspaper, Amnesty International and all kinds of committees, nothing escapes this young woman’s interest. Are you wondering where her academic studies fit in? With an overall grade average of between 80 and 85%, you have no reason to worry and every reason to be impressed. With a twinkle in her eye and a warm smile, she spontaneously asserts her leadership yet knows how to get her fellow students involved as much as possible in the projects she carries out.

“Monotony? I don’t know what you’re talking about!” could candidly be declared by Vivianne St-Gelais, a Secondary 5 student at Séminaire Saint-François (SSF), if you asked her about how she spends her time. Event hosting, theatre, singing, dance, karate, the school newspaper, Amnesty International and all kinds of committees, nothing escapes this young woman’s interest. Are you wondering where her academic studies fit in? With an overall grade average of between 80 and 85%, you have no reason to worry and every reason to be impressed.

“Even though there are around 1,200 students at her school, if you mention Vivianne’s name, you can be sure everyone will know who you are talking about,” asserts Marc Pinard, the student services counsellor at SSF. “I have seen many students get involved but Vivianne is one-of-a-kind. She has passion. The young woman is always aware of what’s going on and is therefore ready to seize every opportunity to get involved and make a difference.”

Vivianne describes herself as someone who above all likes to take the initiative but points out however that she is forever making sure that all those around her can also play an active role in the various projects close to their heart. “On several occasions, I have been able to demonstrate my leadership skills, but I must gauge my degree of initiative so that the team can become and remain functional,” she asserts.

In addition to being a member of the student council, the drug abuse prevention committee and the year-end school dance committee, as well as the team responsible for the script and production of a souvenir video for the Secondary 5 graduating class, the 16-year-old has a keen interest in the performing arts. She is an actress in the Cycle 2 theatre troupe and this year will play the role of Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen, when the troupe stages Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Vivianne also allowed her singing talents to shine forth when she took part in the Secondaire en spectacle show and SSF Idol, an in-house competition inspired by the television show Canadian Idol. “When I’m on stage, I can express myself, give free rein to my emotions and thus try to make those watching feel them too,” she points out, with a twinkle in her eye, adding that she will soon be auditioning for a place as a singer in a cultural gala organized by her school.

But if you think the only things Vivianne is interested in are the arts and committees, you are mistaken. Sports you may ask? The teenager has been practising karate since the age of 4 and is even enrolled in the sports concentration program at her school. She spends numerous hours training in her discipline every week, and thanks to her efforts she has been part of various provincial competitions and teams and even finds time to teach youngsters between the ages of 4 and 6. And then there’s ballet jazz and soccer, with all the competitions they entail. Her dedication to all these activities also helps her to stay fit.

“When you accomplish something, it simply brings you happiness and a feeling of pride at having persevered, believed in yourself, carried out an interesting project and overcome all the obstacles that crossed your path. And to see the smiles on the faces of the people I help or who watch me perform is my incentive to keep getting involved,” she declares with conviction.

It is by taking the greatest advantage of a pace of life balanced between her studies and commitments that Vivianne has become who she is today and the young student intends to continue to do so for a long time to come. As yet undecided as to whether she should pursue a career in communications or the arts, Vivianne is nonetheless convinced of one thing: she will always give the best of herself in order to attain her goals.

When the time comes to take on responsibilities, Katherine Paris, a Secondary 4 student at Daniel-Johnson high school, really throws herself into it! Sports, music, studies, volunteer work, travel and even family obligations, there is not a single thing that escapes her. Katherine’s life path is perfectly in tune with the rhythms of the music she performs with brio and her sporting achievements with the school basketball and flag football teams, and her greatest asset is her positive leadership. Blessed with a contagious ability to motivate others, she is a true source of inspiration for all her fellow students and friends.

Many adults criticize today’s young people for having lost their sense of responsibility. They would certainly change their mind if they met Katherine Paris, a Secondary 4 student at Daniel-Johnson high school. In Katherine’s case, and as the saying goes, when the time comes to take on responsibilities, she really throws herself into it! Sports, music, studies, volunteer work, travel and even family obligations, there is not a single thing that escapes her. “People trust me. They don’t have to force me to take on responsibilities, I assume them myself,” she says quite simply, with a huge smile.

Katherine’s life path is perfectly in tune with the rhythms of the music she performs with brio, and she is continually being swept away by the sounds of her piano and flute. As an active member of her school’s wind section and stage band, she has set a strict practice schedule for herself that is worthy of the most seasoned of musicians. She devotes several hours a week, either alone or with the group, steadfastly working on perfecting her art. And all these efforts have enabled her to take part in various projects, including one last year when she took to the stage with her wind section at the Place des Arts. “A terrific experience,” she recalls.

“Both with the wind section and the extracurricular stage band, Katherine is an excellent flute player and she has shown versatility for both classical and jazz music. Katherine is a real asset for both these ensembles. She is always smiling and truly acts as a positive leader within the groups by encouraging her fellow students. She is a true source of inspiration,” Mélanie Cantin, the young student’s music teacher, eloquently asserts.

Moreover, Katherine steps off the stage and onto to the gymnasium court with tremendous ease, and reasserts her leadership as a member of the school basketball and flag football teams. Blessed with a healthy competitive spirit and a contagious ability to motivate others, last year she greatly contributed to her flag football team’s win at the provincial championships. “It was really exhilarating. All our efforts were rewarded when we won the title, it was truly worth it,” she says with great enthusiasm.

Katherine also has an ardent desire to discover the world and this year she will be participating in a cultural exchange program with young Canadians from the Yukon. For her, it is a golden opportunity to discover the culture and traditions of a community that is a long way away from ours but still shares the same borders. “The program is scheduled for this spring and it’s a real source of motivation for me. I was selected because of my positive attitude and my excellent academic record. It encourages me to carry on,” the 16-year-old admits with a touch of mischief in her voice.

Katherine’s interest in getting to know others is not limited to people her own age. On the contrary, in her desire to help her community, she is regularly involved with the elderly, visiting them on weekends in order to lend a helping hand in their various tasks or to accompany them on outings.

Her parents are a strong source of inspiration and encourage her to get involved and pursue her studies, even though they sometimes feel she overdoes it. Katherine has no intention of waiting around for anybody to get what she wants from life. Determined, committed and avid for discovery, she hopes that her ambition to one day join the ranks of the RCMP with enable her to play an active role in our society.

Thanks to the steadfast commitment of Marcel Julien, dozens of students at the Séminaire Saint-François have discovered an ability to express themselves through words and to give concrete form to their ideas by means of a collective work that this year will be published for the twelfth time. The librarian, who has almost 35 years of experience, believes that the project he initiated in 1997 when he established the Éditions du Rêve éveillé has undeniably had a significant impact on all the students who have participated in the project. In choosing to go out and meet young people, Marcel Julien has helped them to realise the importance of dreams and above all that they have what it takes to bring them to life.

You just may have had the chance to read Anne-Julie Dallaire’s poem on friendship, or the one by Louis Morissette and Gabriel Poisson about respect, or maybe to peruse the fable about Mr. Soleil and the polar bear written by Claudia Turcot and Mathieu Guimond. But probably not, as these writers are high school students at the Séminaire Saint-François who, thanks to the steadfast commitment of Marcel Julien, have discovered an ability to express themselves through words and drawing and to give concrete form to their ideas by means of a collective work that this year will be published for the twelfth time.

The librarian, who has almost 35 years of experience, believes that the project he initiated in 1997 when he established the Éditions du Rêve éveillé has undeniably had a significant impact on the dozens of students who have participated in the project. “The most important consequence of these collections is without doubt the pride felt by each student when they see their work published. Many adolescents lack self-confidence and only too often claim that what they write isn’t any good. By encouraging them to go one step further, they come to realise that they are a lot better than they think and this has a direct impact on their self-esteem,” the finalist in the Committed Staff Member category explains with enthusiasm.

It was following a moving encounter with author Antonine Maillet that Marcel Julien decided to launch the project for a collective work that would bring together poetry, short stories, fables, essays and even drawings. “A school library is always perceived as a closed place. To make it accessible, I said to myself that I had to leave my library and go out and meet young people in order to encourage them to write and express themselves. I quite humbly believe that with this project I have succeeded in doing so.” “Mr. Julien understands the importance of dreams and helps in an outstanding manner to fuel those of a large number of adolescents looking to improve their self-esteem and achieve something tangible. What a fine example of commitment, passion and sharing,” asserts Marc Pinard, the student services counsellor at SSF.

The librarian never for a moment thought of setting up a project reserved exclusively for the best or eldest students. Whether the student is first or last in the class, in Secondary 1 or Secondary 5, the one and only fundamental prerequisite for taking part in the project is the will to get involved and see it through to the end. And in Mr. Julien’s view, many students have made enormous progress in their academic studies following their participation. “Every year, there are students who come and thank me for helping them to attain their potential. And this is my reward,” he says with a smile.

But this project is not the only reason why Mr. Julien’s commitment is acknowledged by both his colleagues and the students. In a desire to offer young people a dynamic and modern library, he places numerous orders for new books, organizes activities to help students discover new literary genres and authors, teaches the basics of efficient catalogue searching and has even set up a “reading corner” for readers in search of something new.

“For many of us, Mr. Julien is simply an endearing and likeable man who has a great sense of humour and is always ready to discuss and exchange views. At a more personal level, he will always be a friend and an example to be followed,” says SSF graduating student Félix Delage-Laurin. “A few years ago, I wanted to withdraw from the collective work project, but everyone insisted that I stay. However, I will soon be retiring and I hope that someone else will be able to keep the project alive and maybe even improve it. Because you know, this project is important to the students and that’s all that counts,” Marcel Julien says in conclusion.

While a number of young people still believe that they can instantly succeed at everything, it is reassuring to see that there are still people who teach them that they won’t be able to attain their goals without effort and a fighting spirit. And Renée Rouleau, a teacher in the dance and ballet concentration program at the Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine, is one of them. British by birth, this great lady of classical dance pulls out all the stops and spares no effort in order to pass on to all her students her passion for “this classical art that breathes life into the very soul of the person who takes part in it.”

While a number of young people still believe that they can instantly succeed at everything, it is reassuring to see that there are still people who teach them that they won’t be able to attain their goals without effort and a fighting spirit. And Renée Rouleau, a teacher in the dance and ballet concentration program at the Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine, is one of them. “When I see that they’ve come to realise this and that they put so much effort into what they do, I say to myself that I have accomplished my mission,” she declares with confidence.

British by birth, this great lady of classical dance joined the ranks of a professional dance academy at the early age of eleven. Mrs. Rouleau was quickly recruited by London’s Royal Ballet, which is one of the five biggest organizations of its kind in the world and, according to the Times, only accepts one candidate out of 700. She thus toured Europe and worked with the foremost dancers of her time. An injury however forced her to put an end to her career as a classical dancer and it was at this time that she chose to turn to teaching in order to pass on to young people “her passion for this classical art that breathes life into the very soul of the person who takes part in it,” as she so aptly puts it.

It was love that prompted Renée Rouleau to cross the Atlantic and take up residence in Québec where, ever since, she has passed on her knowledge at various schools, including the Grands Ballets Canadiens, John Abbott College and even UQAM. For 20 years, she even ran her own ballet school called the Académie de ballet Renée Rouleau. Then, thinking that the time had come to retire, she gave up her school only to feel once again, a few months later, an intense desire to be once more among young people and to teach what she knows the most about in the world: classical dance.

“Thanks to her passion and the many hours she puts in both during and after class, Mrs. Rouleau has succeeded in motivating a good many students in their studies at the Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine. She knows how to stimulate students when participating in an extracurricular activity,” points out Michel Twigg, director of international development at the Collège Sainte-Anne de Lachine where the finalist has taught for the past seven years.

It is moreover this strong desire to enable young people to discover the beauty of the classical arts that to a great extent defines Renée Rouleau’s unremitting commitment. Thanks to the Collège’s program, young people can get a taste for and partake in a dance or theatre experience, and even perform before an audience and thus feel the satisfaction of having succeeded through much hard work. “What’s important for me is that my students experiment with the classical arts so that they can then judge for themselves whether they like them or not. How can you form an opinion if you don’t know what you’re talking about? I once had a young girl who didn’t like classical dance but, after her five years at the school, confessed to me that she would never have thought she’d have enjoyed performing to classical music so much,” confides Mrs. Rouleau.

And favouring one person over another is simply out of the question. Classical dance is within everyone’s reach. “What I have always found deplorable is when you tell a student “you don’t have what it takes.” With dance, our body is our work tool. It becomes a variation on the same theme and we work with what we have. My greatest desire is for them to come to understand that with diligence and hard work, it is possible to succeed, be it in dance or any other sphere of life.”

Her love for young people is manifest in everything Renée Rouleau says and she admits that her students return this love to her. “I simply try to share my experience so as to enrich life at the Collège and more importantly to enrich the artistic knowledge of the students. In fact I feel very privileged to be able to contribute to the education of all these young people,” she concludes with satisfaction.

When teachers at Pionniers high school’s Pavillon Laure-Gaudreault set up the Casino Dinner project three years ago they wanted to find an original way of enhancing the learning of their Secondary 3 students. The activity became a sort of extracurricular adventure that is at once complete, tangible and above all enriching and the teachers’ gamble definitely paid off. The students, who were in charge of preparing the meal, planning the logistics and hosting the event, had to give all they had in order to keep to a schedule of only six days for organizing the event and so be ready to welcome their guests – who numbered more than 120 last December.

Sometimes, by going off the beaten path, academic studies can be turned into something creative and unexpected that will genuinely stimulate the commitment of students. And Le Bedon Rond is a perfect example. Ever since it was founded in 2006, when the entrepreneurship awareness class became the backdrop for a meal preparation enterprise, the youth cooperative has never ceased to expand. Today, the organization can count on over 200 members, all budding cooks who meet in their free time to prepare snacks for students, take-away meals for members of staff, and buffets and food samplings for their families and members of the community.

When Mariya Alexenko’s parents told her, three years ago, that they were leaving their native Ukraine and moving to Canada, more specifically to Québec City, the young girl who was 12 years old at the time didn’t know what to think of this adventure. When they explained that they were doing it so as to ensure a brighter future for her, she soon began to believe in her dreams. The student at De Rochebelle high school is now 15 and, thanks to her perseverance, has a good mastery of French and English, as well as Russian and Ukrainian, and hopes more than anything else to pursue a career in fashion design, a profession she would never have been able to practice in the Ukraine.

“At times, I felt like giving up, quitting, but I just kept thinking about how lucky I was to be here, in Québec, and it spurred me on. I know that here I can realise my dreams and my plans for the future, without being afraid or thinking it is hopeless… like in my own country.”

When Mariya Alexenko’s parents told her, three years ago, that they were leaving their native Ukraine and moving to Canada, more specifically to Québec City, the young girl who was 12 years old at the time didn’t know what to think of this adventure. When they explained that they were doing it so as to ensure a brighter future for her, she soon began to believe in her dreams. The Secondary 4 student at De Rochebelle high school is now 15 and has a good mastery of French and English, as well as Russian and Ukrainian, and hopes more than anything else to pursue a career in fashion design, a profession she would never have been able to practice in the Ukraine.

Mariya speaks with assurance and hardly ever struggles to find the right word but she points out that at the very beginning the dream quickly gave way to the realities of a brand new culture that she knew absolutely nothing about. “When we arrived here, we had to start from scratch and this was unsettling for me. My parents were both computer engineers who suddenly found themselves without prospects. The adaptation was personally difficult. I even started school on my second day here. I couldn’t understand a word people were saying so all I could do was say yes and smile.”

From that time on, Mariya quickly found a new and indispensable ally that today she still takes with her nearly everywhere she goes: the dictionary. “I can’t really say if it took me a long time to properly understand French. But because I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to learn more about my new environment, I did everything I could to learn as fast as possible,” she says, adding that she often stays at school until 6 p.m. so she can do her homework more efficiently.

Ever since her arrival, and especially during times when she’s particularly discouraged, Mariya keeps telling herself that she can succeed, that she finally has the power to do so and that no-one can stop her. And when she really feels the need to get away from it all, she takes refuge in her artistic universe where there are no language or cultural barriers to impede her desire to express herself and she can give free rein to her creative spirit. “Young people here are not always aware of how lucky they are to have dreams and ambitions that they are able to fulfil. This isn’t the case everywhere else,” she asserts in a tone of confidence, with a slight Eastern European accent.

“Conscientious and responsible, Mariya tackles life and its realities with great determination. She has overcome many obstacles over the past few years, has experienced many frustrations and unfortunately not always obtained the desired results. Time and time again she has had to demonstrate a strong will to persevere and this is much to her credit,” explains Jacinthe Dion, the school resource teacher, adding that Mariya also has great artistic talent.

A fitness training enthusiast and an adept of the ski slopes whenever the opportunity arises, Mariya has also invested a lot of effort into establishing a new social network, a task that she says was fraught with difficulties because of the language barrier. However, as was the case when she learned French, she has never been afraid to take the initiative to go out and meet people and to knock on doors to ask for help.

When she looks back, Mariya still can’t believe all the progress she has made in the past three years. And yet, according to her, she’s still not out of the woods, pointing out right away that her written French is still a problem. But she avows she will succeed.

“My greatest challenge is to obtain my diploma and this is something I am working very hard towards. I have even started to look into fashion design and art schools. I even find myself thinking about studying outside Québec. All these possibilities encourage me to persevere and allow me to continue to dream. It’s really terrific!” she says in conclusion.

Nathalie Ringuette has no idea what half-measures are. The teacher at Vanier high school never does things by halves and one day chose to don her missionary cloak and set out to conquer young people with the goal of convincing them to live out their ambitions. From the planning and hosting of lectures by well-known figures such as Paul Arcand, Nathalie Simard, General Roméo Dallaire and Julie Payette, to a fund-raiser for the Gilles Kègle foundation, the organisation of various celebrations, and the drawing up with a group of students of a manifesto on children’s rights as well as steps for introducing it in the Québec National Assembly, Nathalie Ringuette’s involvement has no bounds.

Nathalie Ringuette has no idea what half-measures are. The teacher at Vanier high school never does things by halves and one day chose to don her missionary cloak and set out to conquer young people with the goal of convincing them to live out their ambitions. “The sky’s the limit” is the phrase that best sums up the way she perceives all projects submitted by students. She told me this so many times,” one of her former students is quick to point out.

“At the age of 5, I was already nicknamed “Little Miss Bossy Boots.” When I was 12 and in elementary, I campaigned for Women’s Lib in the school yard with placards,” says Nathalie Ringuette with a peal of contagious laughter. “Today, as a teacher, I want to show the way by innovating for the good of students. I sincerely believe that just because you’re growing up in an underprivileged area doesn’t mean that you can only have small projects. And this is what I teach them.”

With a smile on her face, Nathalie describes herself as a frustrated actress who didn’t have the chance to quench her thirst for the arts and admits she wants to make up for this by making sure that her students’ projects become a reality and can even sometimes take the shape of large-scale events, a scale that a lot of the time goes well beyond their initial expectations.

This was the case in fact with a mutual aid project carried out at Marguerite-Bourgeois elementary school entitled “Un Noël au printemps!” and that was held last June. For the occasion, the students succeeded in obtaining the support of a good number of partners and thus enabled numerous children from an underprivileged area to take part in an unforgettable experience. “On the day of the event, a little girl said, as she was being given her cotton candy, that it was the best day of her life. It’s at times like these that our young people realise the significance of their projects and become aware of how important it is to get involved,” Nathalie recounts.

The project is only one of many. From the planning and hosting of lectures by well-known figures such as Paul Arcand, Nathalie Simard, General Roméo Dallaire and Julie Payette, to a fund-raiser for the Gilles Kègle foundation, the organisation of various celebrations, and the drawing up with a group of students of a manifesto on children’s rights as well as steps for introducing it in the Québec National Assembly, Nathalie Ringuette’s involvement has no bounds.

One of the teacher’s finest bequests to students is probably the setting up of the Dep-explo Jeune health convenience store cooperative four years ago. The project, which channelled the creative energy of numerous students, even won several awards and secured the commitment of a large number of sponsors. Today, more than 70% of the products sold are made by students, who are thus able to develop their entrepreneurial skills. The project’s tremendous success has even been talked about all over the province, and prompted Nathalie, with the help of a colleague, to develop a start-up kit explaining how to go about implementing this type of project at other schools.

“The teacher is a magician because she has managed to accomplish great feats with not the easiest of students in an underprivileged neighbourhood and even with students on the verge of dropping out of school but who found a way of getting involved in their community and now have a reason for getting up every morning. She succeeds in making us all feel that our talents are valuable and she encourages us to continue until we attain our objectives,” enthuses Émilie Sylvestre, who is now in cégep, adding that Nathalie has played a significant role in her life.

“This vital impulse to get involved, which I have made a point of passing on to my own children because they come with me to certain events, must come from my parents. I also believe that in order to do what I do, you must above all love students. For me, these young people are my driving force. And if I manage to help them to surpass themselves and thus develop a greater sense of belonging to the community, I feel that my commitment has had a very positive impact,” says the finalist in conclusion.

Rain or shine, there’s an energetic blue and red troop that walks at a quick pace along the banks of the Saint-Charles River. Most likely people training for the Olympics you may say? Not at all. Training yes, but this is training that 38 students in Secondary 1 at Cardinal-Roy high school took up last October as a way of achieving academic success. And believe it or not, it actually works! Greater concentration in class, a stronger sense of pride and more self-esteem, an improvement in cooperation and the respect of peers, the effects are manifold and palpable. Even the rate of absenteeism has decreased and class expulsions have dropped by 50%.

Rain or shine, there’s an energetic blue and red troop that walks at a quick pace along the banks of the Saint-Charles River. Most likely people training for the Olympics you may say? Not at all. Training yes, but this is training that 38 students in Secondary 1 at Cardinal-Roy high school took up last October as a way of achieving academic success. And believe it or not, it actually works!

More than half of Canadians between the ages of 5 and 17 do not get the physical exercise required for optimal growth and development. According to Canada’s Physical Activity Guide, they should accumulate at least 90 minutes more per day. What is more, studies have shown that physical activity effectively increases oxygenation of the brain and, as a result, favourably increases an individual’s level of concentration and self-control. As one plus one equals two, it took no more than this for special education teachers France Cayouette and Gaston Turcotte to suggest the La bonne forme c’est notre affaire! project to their students.

Thus, starting at 12:45 p.m. on every school day, the students put on their jackets (they all wear the same ones), hats and mittens and set out on a 45-minute walk. “We were looking for a project that would allow us to be outdoors and that would be accessible to all. Everyone can walk. Moreover, this is a special time when it is possible to establish ties with our students and start up conversations during which they can talk about themselves and what they are experiencing. In fact, the repercussions of this project are incredible,” confides France Cayouette.

With the goal of giving all the special education students, who are often overlooked at school, a rallying project that satisfies their need to get active and use up their surplus energy, the teachers quickly came to see the activity’s positive impact. Among other things, and according to all the members of staff who are regularly in contact with the student walkers, they are better disposed and concentrate more on their schoolwork, they have a greater sense of pride and more self-esteem and there has been a significant improvement in cooperation in class and the respect of peers. Another important statistic, the rate of absenteeism has decreased and class expulsions have dropped by 50%.

“One of the finest achievements is without doubt the creation of a sense of belonging at school. When you feel good at school, you have a desire to succeed, you like your environment and you feel appreciated. This is super important,” the teacher insists.

Moreover, the fact that these students all wear the same jacket has a major impact on their adherence to the project. This was made possible thanks to a partnership with the company Versa Style and Groupe Urgence Sinistre (GUS), and the students, who for the most part are from underprivileged areas, have the beneficial feeling of being able to identify with a group they can really call their own.

“We immediately felt like getting involved in the project,” recounts Vanessa Mercier. “Even though there are days when it’s cold, we participate to the very end. And we all get along together. It has enabled us to get to know other students better. In any case, we are in much better shape than we were at the beginning of the year,” the student adds.

The project has even had repercussions elsewhere in Québec. It aroused the interest of the production crew for the television show Salut Bonjour Week-End, who filmed a report on the group of walkers in January. Following the show, a teacher at a school in Yamachiche contacted the teachers at Cardinal-Roy to obtain more information and to establish a twinning project. The students even came up with a plan to enable students at the neighbouring elementary school to take part in their daily activity. Staff members at the high school also occasionally join the group and even parents participate as a way of encouraging their kids… and perhaps also getting in shape.

“Our goal is to simply enable them to enjoy school and we use all possible means to succeed. Thanks to the project, they pay more attention, and this has a positive effect on their learning. I hope that it will help more students to join the regular program and thus provide them with the tools they need to succeed,” says France Cayouette.

For North Americans, buying coffee, tea, sugar or chocolate is nothing out of the ordinary. However, the purchase of these basic foodstuffs has a direct impact on the quality of life in certain communities around the world. When Secondary 2 students in a special education program at Saint-Laurent high school and their teacher set up their Fair-Trade Store, it was precisely to do their part to try and put an end to child exploitation in the production of these products. The students have sold over $4,000 worth of products so far and plan to double their sales from now until the end of the school year when the profits generated will be donated to humanitarian organizations.

For North Americans, buying coffee, tea, sugar or chocolate is nothing out of the ordinary. However, the purchase of these basic foodstuffs has a direct impact on the quality of life in certain communities around the world. When Secondary 2 students in a special education program at Saint-Laurent high school and their teacher set up their Fair-Trade Store, it was precisely to do their part to try and put an end to child exploitation in the production of these products.

“I would never have believed that there were still children living in such conditions,” recounts Patool, a student born in Québec, but whose parents are of Syrian origin, after watching the reports their teacher showed them to raise awareness about the issue of fair trade. “I must admit that I was deeply moved and this is the reason I am so involved in the project.”

It was in an attempt to raise awareness among students in her class last year of the problems of chocolate production and the living conditions of children who are victims of slavery in West Africa that teacher Lyne Leblanc decided to launch the Fair-Trade Store project. Inspired in part by the extensive worldwide network of Magasins du monde open in 800 schools across Europe, Mrs. Leblanc wanted her students to borrow the same concept and turn it into a huge practical learning project.

Thus, since the beginning of the year, participating students have taken part in various commercial and public awareness activities relating to the sale of fair-trade products, and so far have succeeded in selling over $4,000 worth of products. And the group’s goal is to raise twice the amount, if not more. At the end of the year, the profits generated by the project will be donated to humanitarian organizations chosen by the students themselves.

“The main objective is to heighten awareness of fair-trade products. This is why we offer them at very competitive prices so that they are within reach of everyone. But, more importantly, all these students can see that, although they are young, they can make a difference, they are not powerless in the fight against all this social injustice,” the teacher points out, explaining that despite the fact that the project is only open to the 16 students in her class, it has reached unexpected proportions and its popularity has become contagious. By attending talks given by specialists, all students in Secondary 2 now have a better understanding of the subject.

For the time being, Mrs. Leblanc’s group manages an inventory of coffee, sugar, tea, rice, dried fruit and chocolate but they hope to increase the number of suppliers and thus offer additional merchandise such as spices and South American products.

Tristan Lecomte, the founder of Alter Eco, a company specializing in the import and distribution of fair-trade products, believes that students are truly interested in subjects relating to globalization and that it is vital that they be sensitized to the issue. He also feels that the notion of responsible consumption must be taught from elementary school to university. “It is important that each individual be taught about the responsibilities of our planet’s human development. We must teach students to show solidarity towards communities around the world and towards future generations,” he has already asserted. And this theory is perfectly in line with the extracurricular project currently being carried out by the students at Saint-Laurent high school.

“In Québec, our living conditions are excellent but this is not always the case in other countries. By getting involved, we are helping abused children elsewhere and this is really important,” says Jihane, a young student of Moroccan origin.

If you really think about it, young people are probably much more compassionate than some adults may believe in regard to social justice, cultural differences and the North-South social divide. “When I see how committed my students are to the project and how much enthusiasm it has aroused among the members of staff and the school administration, I say to myself that all the hours the students and I have invested have really been worthwhile,” the teacher happily concludes.

For some people, being told no or suffering a setback can lead to a true loss of motivation. However, for Marie-Soleil Deneault, a student at Saint-Paul high school, it is quite the opposite. Even after twice failing Secondary 2, the young woman has never given up. She has always found ways of overcoming her difficulties and has confounded the odds, persevering in order to ensure for herself, as she so aptly puts it, a future that is on a par with her dreams. Spurred on by the sense of pride that her recent academic success has given her, Marie-Soleil keeps on pushing as hard as she can and hopes to one day become a legal secretary.

For some people, being told no, having a door closed in their face or suffering a setback, however banal it might seem, can lead to a true loss of motivation and confidence. For Marie-Soleil Deneault, a student at Saint-Paul high school, however, it is completely the opposite. Even after twice failing Secondary 2, the young woman has never given up. She has always found ways of overcoming her difficulties and has confounded the odds, persevering in order to ensure for herself, as she so aptly puts it, a future that is on a par with her dreams.

It is not always easy for teenagers to see their friends succeed and to live with the frustration of never being able to do so oneself. “I remember at the beginning of high school, we worked a lot in teams and I was never able to follow. My friends used to help me but I couldn’t understand, I just couldn’t catch on, especially in French and math. The last two years were therefore very hard for me. I felt really disheartened and less and less motivated,” Marie-Soleil spontaneously recounts.

And then one day, one of her teachers decided to help her in choosing the best academic path for her. Following many discussions and a lot of thought, Marie-Soleil chose to enrol in a semi-specialized vocational training program and this was the starting point for a whole new adventure focused on success. “My teacher gave me the courage to continue in my studies and not to give up even though I was experiencing one failure after another at school. This year, I love the program I’m in because I can progress at my own pace in all my subjects and, on top of that, I’m succeeding,” she exclaims with satisfaction.

Spurred on by the sense of pride that her recent academic success has given her, Marie-Soleil keeps on pushing as hard as she can. While the vocational program requirements call for students to complete a certain number of pages per week in core subjects, Marie-Soleil has more than doubled her weekly workload and will therefore be able to finish Secondary 2 much faster and begin Secondary 3 in the very near future. Marie-Soleil will thus have the chance to make up for some of the time she has lost over the past few years.

“This is an imposing task,” asserts Karina Bilodeau, a teacher in the program. “But week after week, to my great surprise, Marie-Soleil pulls it off. She really shows unremitting determination and autonomy in her studies. She works without letting herself be distracted and asks the questions she needs to help her understand and better succeed.”

We saw another example of the student’s determination when, as part of her program, she had to find a place to undertake a training period in a field of her choice. Opting for secretarial work, she set about making requests at various places but they all refused. You may think that being back at square one for the young woman was yet another kind of setback, but this wasn’t the case at all! She pulled up her sleeves and went as far as to dare to offer her services as office assistant at the very school she attends. And from day one, Marie-Soleil set herself apart through her involvement, her desire to learn, her sense of initiative and her efficiency.

“My dream is to become a legal secretary and I use all the necessary means to get there. Now that I have found my place, I won’t let myself become discouraged anymore. I am going to graduate from high school and push towards fulfilling my dreams,” she vows, adding that this year she will have the pleasure of participating in a school trip to Toronto, something that she sees as a sort of reward for all the effort she has made so far.

“Marie-Soleil’s previous school years were fraught with setbacks but this year is marked by her steadfast commitment and boundless perseverance to succeed in her studies in the new program. Chances are that, thanks to her now immense determination, her future is certain,” her teacher predicts.

If all the members of staff at Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntingdon agree in singling out Nathan Lopoko Bissaolo for his progress, it is surely because the young man has come a long way and that he stands apart for his newfound determination. There are tangible results of this transformation. Nathan, who is 16 years old, was invited to join the school soccer team, was called upon to take part as a model in a fund-raising fashion show organized by the staff and students at his school and is a loyal member of the Air Cadets, and his avowed goal is to fulfil his dream of becoming a helicopter pilot.

“When I asked the staff at school who would meet the Forces AVENIR criteria in the Persevering Student category, the unanimous reply was Nathan,” relates Mrs. Lynda Loignon, the principal at Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntingdon. If everyone agrees in singling out Nathan Lopoko Bissaolo for his progress, it is surely because the young man has come a long way and that he stands apart for his newfound determination.

“I was precisely one of the people who insisted that Nathan submit his application for the Forces AVENIR program,” recounts guidance counsellor Karine Hulmann. “When he began high school, he was a boy who did exactly as he pleased, had no respect for adult authority and hardly ever handed in his homework. This year, Nathan is a completely different person, he’s totally transformed.”

Obviously surprised by all the attention and the recognition, today Nathan is 16 years old and in Secondary 4 and sees this metamorphosis more as a desire to pull up his sleeves in order to fulfil his dream of becoming a helicopter pilot, a dream he has cherished since he was a little boy. He himself admits that he was not always easy to handle at school, but adds that for him his trip to France last summer was a true source of inspiration and convinced him to take himself in hand.

“Because it was a trip organized by the school and you had to participate in the fund-raising activities and be well behaved if you wanted to take part, I made a big effort. When I was selected, I was really proud. I realized that with hard work and a positive attitude, you can attain your goals,” he asserts.

There are tangible results of this change. Nathan was invited to join his school soccer team, just established this year, and was called upon to take part as a model in a fund-raising fashion show organized annually for the past 15 years by the staff and students at his school. This is a major event attended by 800 people every year and the profits are donated to Opération Enfant Soleil, which helps a child from the region suffering from cancer. Since Christmas, Nathan has thus been attending rehearsals twice a week and has been learning the choreographies. Moreover, he asserts that his involvement gives him a great feeling of satisfaction and well being, as he knows he is doing something concrete to help a sick child.

“He’s a tall, good-looking boy. We insisted and he allowed himself to be convinced. This is another fine example of his transformation and his desire to take part in projects,” states Mrs. Hulmann.

Moreover, for Nathan the fact that he has been in the Cadets for two years has something to do with this change of attitude. After being a member of the Army Cadets for a year, he quickly joined the Air Cadets, a move that will enable him to better focus his learning towards fulfilling his dream of joining the Canadian Armed Forces as a pilot. “I started to make an effort and I see this agrees with me,” he says timidly. “Since then, at the end of every month, I’m lucky as I obtain honorary commendations. This never happened before. All I received were suspensions from school. I’m really proud and my parents are too.”

And his involvement doesn’t stop there. As a member of his school’s Beta Psi Beta fraternity, a newly established organization inspired in a way by the Harry Potter series, the young man helps to organize certain activities such as the Winter Carnival and sports competitions.

“Like many others, Nathan has gained maturity. But his case is more special, more… remarkable. He is someone who now emanates something different. He is inspiring,” concludes the guidance counsellor.

Described as a brilliant, enthusiastic, innovative, hard-working and responsible student, Jasmyn Beauséjour, who is in Secondary 5 at the Collège Saint-Sacrement in Terrebonne, is already an imposing individual because of his strength of character and his entrepreneurship. Jasmyn initiated and has coordinated an annual blood drive at his school since 2006, is a volunteer with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (MSSC) and TEAM (Tous les enfants de l’autre monde), plays the saxophone in the school’s Blues Band and Jazz Band, and last year participated in a humanitarian project in Guatemala.

“In 2006, when he was in Secondary 2, Jasmyn came to see me in my office to tell me he wanted to organize a blood drive at school. I said OK, we’ll organize one, but he cut me off, saying: “Well actually, I’ve already planned everything. Now, all they need is to meet with you. And I knew right away that the young man in front of me was, to say the least, very determined.”

The name of the student in question, who Mr. Luc St-Louis, the principal at Collège Saint-Sacrement in Terrebonne, can’t stop singing the praises about, is Jasmyn Beauséjour. Described as a brilliant, enthusiastic, innovative, hard-working and responsible student, Jasmyn, who is now in Secondary 5, is already an imposing individual because of his strength of character and his entrepreneurship. Héma-Québec has even confirmed that at the age of 14, he became the youngest person in his region to not only organize, but also initiate and help coordinate a blood drive. “From the very start, I undertook to turn the event into a long-standing tradition and to find a student who would take my place once I graduate. I kept my promise,” he admits with pride.

Moreover, the blood drive has always met its goal in terms of the number of donors (150 for the last drive) and this is undoubtedly thanks to Jasmyn’s perseverance. “One year,” the principal recalls “an hour before the end of the blood drive, we still needed a few donors in order to meet our objective and Jasmyn crossed over to the arena on the other side of the street, made his sales pitch and came back with four or five people. We attained our goal. Jasmyn is a born entrepreneur, a real go-getter.”

And as Jasmyn always tries to improve a formula, he came up with the idea of using the annual blood drive at the Collège to establish the “Double Don” project. The recipe is simple. For every blood donation, a company agrees to make a cash donation to the Fondation Bon matin, an organization with the mission of distributing healthy snacks to students in various elementary schools in the Terrebonne area. Jasmyn appeals to the donor companies himself and in two years has succeeded is raising $1,750 for the foundation.

Furthermore, Jasmyn has also turned his attention to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (MSSC). As a saxophone player in the school’s Blues Band and Jazz Band, the young man convinced the school administration to donate all the profits from the sale of a CD recorded by the Blues Band to the Lanaudière chapter of MSSC, that is to say a total of $535. He also took part in a fund-raising show and was the master of ceremonies and saxophonist during the MS Walk last April. “The feeling I get every time I can let others benefit from my talents and my time not only allows me to grow, it encourages me to keep making the effort,” points out the young man who was the junior Québec and Canadian Taekwondo champion in 2005.

In addition to his participation in a humanitarian project in Guatemala, where he helped build the walls for a school and a soccer field, his support and guidance for Secondary 1 students during welcoming activities, his contribution to his school’s fundraiser and his involvement with TEAM (Tous les enfants de l’autre monde), an organization for which he helps organize fund-raising activities, Jasmyn has still managed to maintain an overall grade average of between 93% and 95% since he entered high school.

For the student at Collège Saint-Sacrement, the frenzy of social commitment is a continuous driving force and he seeks to transmit this passion to his peers. Next April he will be organizing a volunteer fair at his school that will enable everyone to find out about numerous organizations seeking volunteers.

“I believe that young people like me have tremendous power and that we have a moral obligation to help those around us. It is not a question of knowing where to start, it’s more a question of when to start. Every cause is important. You just have to find one that you truly believe in. That’s how I came up with the idea of organizing the volunteer fair. I hope that it will help encourage youth to get more involved,” Jasmyn says with conviction.

Event hosting, theatre, the student newspaper, awareness-raising activities, it is for the most part through the arts that Philippe Lacroix, a Secondary 4 student at Séminaire Saint-François, spreads his message, striving each and every time to pass on his passion to the younger students who will soon be taking his place. A modest type of person who prefers team success to personal success, Philippe shows exceptional artistic maturity for someone his age. This year, he will play the part of Lysander in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, contribute to the smooth running of the Secondaire en spectacle event and co-host the cultural gala.

“By getting involved in a dynamic and conscientious way, you can motivate people, get them to reflect on things and interest them in working with you.” Philippe Lacroix, a Secondary 4 student at Séminaire Saint-François (SSF), makes this assertion with full knowledge of the facts. Event hosting, theatre, the student newspaper, awareness-raising activities, it is for the most part through the arts that the 15 year old spreads his message, striving each and every time to pass on his passion to the younger students who will soon be taking his place.

A modest type of person who prefers team success to personal success, Philippe Lacroix shows exceptional artistic maturity for someone his age and quickly came to understand the principle that alone you can go faster, but as a group you can go farther. Danielle Béland, a teacher at SSF, readily asserts: “Philippe is a cultural ambassador, an extremely rare phenomenon at his age. He teaches and passes on to others everything he learns.”

According to Mrs. Béland, Philippe is not content with just excelling on stage in the roles he plays with accuracy and sensitivity as a member of the Esclaffe theatre company. He also enables Cycle 1 students to discover their passion for the performing arts thanks to his sound advice as stage director. This is also the case when he hosts the year-end cultural gala. Instead of dominating the evening in his role as emcee, he prefers to surround himself with colleagues and friends, to form a team of youngsters of all ages and thus allow them to benefit from his experience and his aplomb as a means of training the new guard.

“What distinguishes him and sets him apart,” she quickly goes on to say “is not so much the quality of his actions but rather the sustained quality of his contribution to student life at our school. You can entrust him with any mission: not only will he carry it off with brio, he will go beyond all your expectations simply because, when he embarks on an adventure, he gives his utmost with both spirit and dedication.”

This was the case in fact last fall when Philippe and five of his friends wanted to set up a project as part of the school’s anti-bullying program. To do so, the group decided to stage Le soldat, a play written by a former SSF student that draws a parallel between a soldier entering the fray and a young student who must contend with being bullied every day at school. They presented the play to all Secondary 1 and 2 students as well as a hundred or so other people during a special presentation. “We did everything ourselves, from the stage production to acting out all the roles. I even had to tape certain scenes on video because there weren’t enough of us to play all the roles. I’m always inclined to take on extra responsibilities and get fully involved,” the young man explains, adding that, from an artistic standpoint, Patrick Huard’s career is a great source of inspiration.

This year, as well as playing the part of Lysander in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, contributing to the smooth running of the Secondaire en spectacle event and co-hosting the cultural gala, in which he will also perform in two singing numbers as well as writing the scripts and presenting six sketches on a 1960s’ theme, Philippe hosts a lunch-hour theatre activity for Cycle 1 students twice a week.

Moreover, the student has been approached by the person in charge of the drug-abuse program at SSF about creating and producing, with the help of three friends, video capsules that will be posted on the school’s website. This is yet another way of transmitting important societal values.

And to end the year with a flourish, Philippe will be hosting the year-end awards ceremony. “Projects and cultural events have become a true passion. Eventually, I hope to be able turn my involvement into a profession and thus continue having fun while creating and, more importantly, collaborating and working with interesting people who are just as enthusiastic as I am,” concludes the finalist in the Committed Student category.

“I am strongly attached to my living and working environments. I believe that school is a place for learning how to surpass oneself. I think that each and every student should be given the chance to participate in stimulating experiences that will allow them to progress and become more open to the world,” asserts Anie Belleville, a Secondary 3 French teacher. She never hesitates to do everything she can to provide her students with new and appealing challenges. Over the years, she has taught them to discover the world thanks to literature but also by organizing trips abroad, trips that every time allow them to grow.

“I am strongly attached to my living and working environments. I believe that school is a place for learning how to surpass oneself. I think that each and every student should be given the chance to participate in stimulating experiences that will allow them to progress and become more open to the world. Anie Belleville, a Secondary 3 French teacher at L’Érablières high school in Saint-Félix-de-Valois, strives to give concrete expression to this conviction so as to ensure that the students at her school become citizens who are focused on the world and committed to their community. She could easily have limited herself to the framework of her courses, but she chose to see her idea through to the end by taking her students on trips around the world. She doesn’t count the hours she invests in helping them to become open to different cultures and understand the importance of properly mastering French and other languages.

Her love for the world of teaching has daily repercussions on her students, as she never hesitates to provide them with new and appealing challenges. “Anie always has a project in the making. At the heart of her concerns are the dynamism of her working environment and her desire to help students to attain their full potential,” her colleague Sylvie Chartier testifies.

This year, she will give her students the opportunity to discover Greece. They will taste local delicacies, watch the film Troy in class and produce a multimedia presentation on the country. “I want my students to immerse themselves in Greek culture before reading Homer’s Odyssey, an outstanding work but one that is not easy for young people to read.”

Mrs. Belleville uses literature to help her students discover the world. For the past few years, she has been taking the concept one step further by organizing trips abroad for high school students in Cycle 2. “I am hooked. Students return from these trips as changed individuals. They have grown and so have I!” she exclaims.

So far, she has enabled students to visit France, Greece, Italy and the United States. In the fall, she will be heading to England with a new group. She also recently organized a true sports pilgrimage to Buffalo, Toronto and Montréal in collaboration with a physical education teacher.

“This kind of trip arouses the curiosity of the young people who have the chance to take part. They become more attentive and more open to other cultures. They come to realize the importance of mastering several languages. It’s such an enriching experience. In some instances, the trip acts as a springboard that propels them towards new horizons. The world is now a global village and I want them to become aware of this,” the teacher fervently points out. Planning these trips is obviously no piece of cake and requires the organization of successive fund-raising campaigns but Mrs. Belleville gets steadfastly involved for her students, many of whom might otherwise not have the opportunity to travel since they are from somewhat underprivileged backgrounds.

“She doesn’t keep tabs on the hours she invests in enabling students to partake in a highly enriching cultural experience. Anie is an organized, structured and humane person,” asserts school principal Pierre Heynemand Jr.

When Mr. Heynemand began taking steps to establish an international studies program it went without saying that Mrs. Belleville joined the committee. “The Ouverture sur le monde program is perfectly in line with my values. The students will spend more time on their English and learn Spanish, their courses will have an international flavour and they will be called upon to get more involved in their community.” The new program will be open to two Secondary 1 classes as of September 2009. Without a doubt, Anie Belleville does everything she can to enable all the students that pass through the corridors of L’Érablière high school to become more open to the world and more curious about life around them. Even though she describes herself as a fairly discrete person who prefers to remain behind the scenes, it’s easy to predict that her actions will be engraved forever on the memory of her students, who will no doubt one day thank her for providing them with a different outlook on the world.

“Thank you for the happiness you have brought to the faces of my children… for the example young people like you set for others and for the hope that your actions have brought!” These simple words, brimming with gratitude, bear witness to the tremendous impact the students at Saint-Paul high school made when they set up their “A new kind of Christmas hamper” project. These young people literally took on the role of Santa Claus and, thanks to their commitment, enabled six families - and more importantly their children - to spend an unforgettable Christmas.

“Thank you for the happiness you have brought to the faces of my children… for the example young people like you set for others and for the hope that your actions have brought!” These simple words, brimming with gratitude, bear witness to the tremendous impact the students at Saint-Paul high school made when they set up their “A new kind of Christmas hamper” project. These young people literally took on the role of Santa Claus and, thanks to their commitment, enabled six families - and more importantly their children - to spend an unforgettable Christmas.

The beginning of the “A new kind of Christmas hamper” adventure dates back to last fall. Taking advantage of an autonomy and social participation class in order to get involved in their community, fifteen or so Secondary 1 and 2 students, with the support of their teacher, came up with the idea of raising money by making and selling Christmas items. And keeping the money for themselves was simply out of the question. All the money raised would be used to buy Christmas presents for underprivileged children in their area.

“The project has heightened awareness among students of the importance of generosity and self-sacrifice through the dedication of one’s time and energy. And despite the fact that some of them could easily have been among the target clientele for these Christmas hampers, they never once thought of themselves and got wholeheartedly involved so as to offer children a wonderful Christmas,” recounts Catherine Couture, the teacher in charge of the project.

Thanks to the sale of more than 200 meat pies, 120 Christmas cards and nearly 70 tree ornaments, all made by hand by the students themselves, they raised $1,200, almost triple their initial objective of $450. Fourteen children thus received pyjamas and various other presents chosen according to their age and sex, such as doll strollers, trucks, handicraft kits, makeup kits and so forth. Moreover, each family was given a Crayola bag full of crafts and drawing materials. “It wasn’t always easy, but we saw it through to the end and we are very proud,” points out participant Marc-Antoine Gravel.

“You should have seen them wrapping all the presents and overseeing everything so as to make sure that every child received the right presents. The project has enabled them to develop their autonomy, leadership and organizational skills. But, above all, it has served as a source of motivation in the pursuit of their studies,” the teacher adds.

Mrs. Couture admits that the project would never have taken on such proportions had it not been for the participation of the Côte-du-Sud school board and its program for promoting vocational training. With the help of the Envolée vocational training centre, participating students were able to learn the rudiments of institutional cooking and it even gave some of them the desire to specialise in this field. “We were given access to their installations and this made our work a whole lot easier. What’s more, we weren’t billed for anything so all the profits from the sale of our products went directly to the families,” the teacher affirms, adding that certain local supermarkets also played a part in the project.

And the adventure doesn’t stop there! The students enjoyed their experience so much that they suggested of their own accord that another similar project be set up before the end of the school year. In keeping with the initial aim of helping in their community, this time the students chose to lend a hand to Opération Enfant Soleil. To do so, they will sell their own homemade chocolate-chip cookie dough during an activity they have christened “Cookies for Life” and the group’s goal is to raise $1,500 that will be donated during the upcoming telethon on May 30 and 31.

“I am so proud of them and the charitable gesture they have made. The fact that they are already planning to do more for another cause is proof that the “A new kind of Christmas hamper” project has had a positive impact, not only for the families they helped but above all on the development of these young people,” concludes Catherine Couture.

When you talk to Samuel Huppé, a Secondary 2 at Pierre-Laporte high school, you quickly come to realise that he is a determined individual who refuses to be put off by “stoppers of progress.” Though suffering from cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair, upon finishing elementary school, the 14 year old decided to leave a specialized learning environment and enter a regular high school. Astute, amiable, emphatic to a fault, cultivated, athletic and successful at school, Samuel shows a maturity that is rare for a boy his age. Thanks to this maturity, he sees his life in a positive light and has become actively involved, among other things, in a project for creating a school newspaper.

Just picture yourself for a moment in a place packed with people and you’re the only one who’s different. A little unsettling, wouldn’t you say? Yet this is something that Samuel Huppé, a Secondary 2 student at Pierre-Laporte high school, has to contend with on a daily basis. Though suffering from cerebral palsy and confined to a wheelchair, Samuel does not feel isolated or upset. Quite the contrary. “At school, my everyday life is full of responsibilities and challenges to be taken up and this is how I like it. What’s more, here I have a lot more freedom than before,” he proudly exclaims.

When you talk to the 14 year old, it’s easy to understand that he is a determined individual who refuses to be put off by “stoppers of progress.” As soon as he finished elementary school, he made the categorical decision to leave a specialized learning environment and enter a regular high school. With the unfailing support of his parents, he shopped around and opted for the LLS enriched program (literature, languages and sciences) at Pierre-Laporte high school.

It should be pointed out that the school had never received students in wheelchairs before. Even now, Samuel is the only one. “At first, we were sceptical at the prospect of integrating Samuel at our school,” recalls special needs technician Kristina Wrobel. “Despite our concerns, we believed in the obviously very determined young man. Thanks to his help and that of his parents, we were able to make the school an accessible and safe environment.”

And don’t even think that Samuel would ever play the victim. ”He could often have come to see me for support but he just doesn’t. He always sees things through to the end without getting discouraged. It is only when he is truly incapable of doing something that he asks for help,” the teacher points out.

“Everything I have, I deserve. I am blessed by life,” Samuel philosophizes with serenity. “I simply see my life from a different perspective. When I have to contend with new difficulties, I see them in a different light and I find a way of overcoming them. I would even say that, because of my disability, I experience things that I would never have been able to experience otherwise,” he happily adds.

Astute, amiable, emphatic to a fault, cultivated and successful in his studies, Samuel shows a maturity that is rare for a boy his age. “Because of my handicap, I have to be more mature,” he proclaims, to justify himself. But when you realise that just getting to his locker every morning, opening it and getting out his schoolbooks is a constant challenge in itself for Samuel, it’s easy to see just how much this maturity serves him well.

It is also this maturity that has enabled him to place more trust in his classmates. It was a real challenge for him. “At first, I got along better with the adults and Secondary 5 students and I rarely approached students my own age. Now I try to mix with them more, I have made friends and I have also started to get involved in life at school,” recounts Samuel, referring to his active participation in a project for creating a school newspaper. As strange as it may seem, it is not the attitude of some students or how others may perceive him that is the most frustrating for Samuel, but rather his inability to take part in his favourite sports. “I would have liked to have played football but I don’t think it would be possible,” he laughs. “I therefore make do with downhill skiing, fencing, swimming and basketball. I have even tried out horseback riding. When it comes to sports, I am very stubborn and I always want to improve. When I can’t do so because of my condition, it annoys me but I never give up.”

Last summer, Samuel underwent major surgery on his legs and was forced to miss school until January. But you see, for him this was no reason to give up. Throughout the time he was away, he continued to study, obtained help from private teachers and was able to maintain his personal standards in terms of quality and did not fall behind his classmates.

“For me, my handicap is not an obstacle. Like I said, it simply allows me to see life from a different perspective,” he has fun repeating.

Ever since she began school, Guy-Anne Corriveau has been used to working twice as hard and even three times as hard as others in order to assimilate the subject matter. Last year she was diagnosed as having a learning disability and finally has an explanation for her troubles. The Secondary 3 student at Saint-Anselme high school now holds her head high, has a determined look in her eye and shows a will to assert herself. The progress she makes never ceases to impress her friends and family and the people at school. As a member of the Student Parliament, the Opération Enfant Soleil committee, Pairs aidants and the Sea Cadets, her involvement is the very source of her perseverance.

Ever since she began school, Guy-Anne Corriveau has been used to working twice as hard and even three times as hard as others in order to assimilate the subject matter. Last year, when she was officially diagnosed as having a learning disability, in a way, it took a weight off her shoulders and finally gave her an explanation for her troubles. She had often been the victim of mockery from her fellow students but she no longer takes offence and now knows why she will always have to work harder. “Guy-Anne works in ways that not many other students do. If they worked as hard as she does, there wouldn’t be any students at risk of failing,” agree all the teachers.

The Secondary 3 student at Saint-Anselme high school holds her head high, has a determined look in her eye and shows a will to assert herself. The progress she makes never ceases to impress her friends and family and the people at school. She was a shy and withdrawn young girl upon entering high school but has turned into a dynamic and self-assured student who, thanks to her perseverance and commitment, has become what her teachers call an inspiring and contagious role model.

“When I heard the diagnosis, it was hard but at the same time it helped me understand and even to start to gain confidence in myself,” she reveals as a way of explaining the new way in which she sees her life. “And then the school’s sports and recreation technician invited me to get involved in the Student Parliament and I accepted. I think this helped me to appreciate school more.”

Indeed, ever since Guy-Anne joined the Student Parliament made up of numerous students from all years and for which she assumes the role of secretary, she no longer sees her high school years in the same way. “In the morning, when I think to myself “yet another hard day at school ahead,” I cling to the thought of my Parliament meetings and the activities I am going to help organize or I say to myself that a student may need my help or a sympathetic ear. So I hop into my jeans and I head to school with a smile on my face.”

The cat’s now out of the bag! Guy-Anne’s trick for staying motivated and continuing to persevere is extracurricular activities. Where many would be content to throw themselves into their work and schoolbooks to catch up in math or French – which is already a lot in itself - the 16-year-old teenager combines studying and involvement. In addition to the Student Parliament, where she can improve her French thanks to her role as secretary, Guy-Anne sits on the Opération Enfant Soleil committee that is currently raising funds for the upcoming telethon, is a member of the Pairs aidants committee that helps students experiencing all kinds of difficulties and has been in the Sea Cadets for the past four years.

“Her involvement is truly the key to her success,” insists Mireille Brousseau, counsellor in spiritual life and community involvement. “This is how she has gained her self-confidence and the motivation to carry on and attain her goal, which for the moment is to finish high school. She has more faith in herself than ever and so do the entire school staff.”

The young student now dreams of one day becoming a photographer or working in the field of health and she clearly recalls a not so distant past when she preferred not to speak out in class for fear of being ridiculed or, worse still, of simply not being listened to. Today, her perseverance has paid off. She can now express herself more easily in front of the whole class and even with a passion about the activities of her various committees. Yet more importantly, she finally feels as though people are listening to her and that her ideas and suggestions are gaining ground.

“I have good friends at school now, and when I don’t understand something, I don’t mind asking for help. With everything I’ve been through, I say to myself that whatever happens to us, we must never give up. There is always a treasure hidden somewhere that awaits us. It is through perseverance that we can succeed in finding it and always make progress,” she points out, as a way of sending a message of hope to all those who sometimes feel like dropping everything.

Marie-Pier Fortier is a model of determination and perseverance who never ceases to amaze her family, friends and teachers. She was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy affecting her legs, a disorder that at the same affects learning abilities, just after she celebrated her first birthday. From that moment on, Marie-Pier, who is now enrolled at Saint-Anselme high school, started proving that her strength of character would get the better of her permanent physical impairment. Today, she is more confident than ever and stands out for her joie de vivre and ambition to complete her studies and become an administrative assistant.

Marie-Pier Fortier is a model of determination and perseverance who never ceases to amaze her family, friends and teachers. She was diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy affecting her legs, a disorder that at the same affects learning abilities, just after she celebrated her first birthday. From that moment on, Marie-Pier, who is now enrolled at Saint-Anselme high school, started proving that her strength of character would get the better of her permanent physical impairment. Today, she is more confident than ever and stands out for her joie de vivre and ambition to complete her studies and become an administrative assistant.

“I think I’ve always been a very determined person. I could have spent my whole life in a wheelchair but I immediately got to work to avoid that. I learned to walk at the age of two, I wore leg braces throughout elementary school and even during high school, but today I can walk without any kind of aid,” the 18-year-old recounts with great pride.

It should be pointed out that because of the cerebral palsy, Marie-Pier’s feet are permanently turned inwards making it no easy task to walk with poise. In truth, for a long time her disability was an object of ridicule in elementary school. Her first four years were therefore obviously difficult, all the more so because she was placed in a regular class despite her learning disabilities in all things relating to mathematical logic.

However, far from getting discouraged, Marie-Pier persisted and it was finally after being transferred to a special education class – where she could progress at her own pace and benefit from more support – that she was able to take control of her academic path. “Self-discipline has always helped me do well at school.” Today, she still devotes the necessary time to her schoolwork every night and even on weekends. “I want to obtain my high school diploma and I know I will succeed,” she asserts.

Marie-Pier’s teachers and the other professionals who work with her have no doubt whatsoever that she will attain her goal. “I have known her for two years now and what impresses me the most about Marie-Pier is her determination. She knows where she’s going; you can see it in her eyes. She has come to terms with her disability and this has enabled her to gain self-confidence and draw other young people towards her who now consider her as a role model,” recounts the school counsellor in spiritual life and community involvement Mireille Brousseau.

“It’s amazing to see how much she has progressed and this can be directly attributed to her efforts,” says teacher Harold Boivin. “I consider her as a model in terms of perseverance and determination.”

Though she has accepted her circumstances, Marie-Pier admits that she still often cries and wonders why all this has happened to her. At times like this, she thinks of all the activities she’ll never be able to do like skating and biking. But every time she becomes too overwhelmed with emotion, she says to herself that she is nonetheless moving forward in life and that there are lots of other things she can do that she enjoys. These include the school choir and her volunteer work at the municipal library and the school library.

“I love to sing and I love books. I will be participating with the choir in the musical comedy Madagascar that will be presented at school in the spring. And when the time comes to help out at the libraries, I’m always ready and willing. These activities allow me to experience another type of success and encourage me to continue with my studies,” Marie-Pier says.

When she looks back on all she has accomplished over the past few years, Marie-Pier feels contented. And though this is due mainly to her unrelenting perseverance, she is quick to point out that, throughout her life, her parents have been one of her greatest sources of motivation. “They have always helped me and encouraged me to take my rightful place. In obtaining a vocational diploma and becoming a secretary, I will be able to take my place in society,” she concludes with a huge smile.

Jorge Avila, a student in the welcoming class at Saint-Laurent high school, arrived from Mexico about two years ago with his parents. He didn’t speak a word of French but cherished one dream: to begin a new life in a country where he would have the freedom to live out his dreams. And the 15-year-old student’s involvement is surprising. With his innate sense of initiative, he joined the school’s student council, the Eco-committee, the swimming team, the International Committee, the Arts and Deco committee, the welcoming committee and many other organizations. The top of his class and a source of inspiration for his peers, he seizes every opportunity to integrate and have an impact on life at his school.

Though for some young people, the expression “going back to square one” essentially means the beginning of a new adventure on their video game console, for others these words take on a significance of the utmost importance. This is the case for Jorge Avila, who arrived from Mexico about two years ago with his parents. He had no knowledge of the language of Molière but cherished one dream: to begin a new life in a country where he would have the freedom to live out his dreams. Today, his will, determination and involvement have paved the way towards a remarkable future.

“As soon as we arrived here, my parents told me that I really had to take advantage of every opportunity I was offered to learn and carve out a place for myself. I decided to follow their advice,” recounts - in fluent French - the boy who will be turning 16 in the next few days.

A few months after they arrived, the first opportunity presented itself in the form of a welcoming class at Saint-Laurent high school. This is a kind of multiethnic class where the teaching is geared primarily towards French and a few core subjects and that enables students to join the regular program after a period of two years.

The person in charge of the class remembers Jorge as a good-natured and timid young boy, slightly unsure of himself, but who showed every sign of wanting to take his place. “Jorge is an excellent student. He’s one of the top of his class. He quickly found his place, asserted himself as a quiet leader and started helping others,” recalls teacher Carole Talbot.

When his teachers and the counsellor in spiritual life and community involvement discovered the teenager’s ability to succeed and more importantly to take the initiative, they quickly suggested that Jorge get more involved in the extracurricular activities offered at school. He didn’t need much persuading and, remembering his parents’ advice, seized the opportunity.

One thing led to another and Jorge soon joined his school’s student council, became a member of the Eco-committee and enrolled on the swimming team, while at the same time being named best student athlete at the school with his grade average of 91%. And then there’s his participation in the International Committee, the Arts and Deco committee, the welcoming committee and his contribution to the production of a souvenir video and a yearbook for the students in his welcoming class.

“In Mexico, I was a good student but we didn’t have the chance to get involved like we can here. It’s really fulfilling. What’s more, every time I get involved, I am able to develop my personal qualities, especially my communication skills, plus I get to meet loads of new people,” Jorge enthusiastically asserts.

His quest for positive and tangible results has a strong influence on how Jorge chooses to get involved. For example, he volunteered his services to design eight articles of clothing made from recyclable material that will be presented during a “green” fashion show. When he produced a video about his class, the impact was just as tangible. At first, the students were a little shy but when they saw the final result, they were overjoyed and it really helped bring the students closer together and develop a strong feeling of belonging.

“You can tell that Jorge is truly committed to his actions,” maintains counsellor Dominic Vézina. “He gets involved because he believes and he sees his new life with surprising maturity. Students living in a context such as his and who are as involved as he is are far and few between.”

Because Jorge attends a very multicultural school, he is regularly called upon to act as translator for students like himself who have just arrived and only speak Spanish. Moreover, as he is recognized for his strong sense of responsibility, he was invited to participate in the Cercle jeune citoyen engagé project as activity leader for thirty or so youngsters in Grade 6.

“It’s wonderful to get involved like this. People thank you and you feel as though you are doing something useful. I know that I will always be Mexican but despite my love for my native country, I want to be considered as a Canadian and to contribute to the pride of this country,” he points out in conclusion.

“I love teenagers,” Isabelle Gendron, a Secondary 4 and 5 maths teacher at Collège Mont-Royal, spontaneously admits. “Young people have lots of resources and when you get involved with them, you get to see their true colours and you can learn from them.” When you listen to Isabelle Gendron speaking like this, you quickly realize that her students’ energy is what really makes her tick. To see young people evolving, forging ahead, discovering life both here and elsewhere is a source of fascination and this is what motivates her to give generously of her time.

“I love teenagers,” Isabelle Gendron, a Secondary 4 and 5 maths teacher at Collège Mont-Royal, spontaneously admits. “Young people have lots of resources and when you get involved with them, you get to see their true colours and you can learn from them.” When you listen to Isabelle Gendron speaking like this, you quickly realize that her students’ energy is what really makes her tick. To see young people evolving, forging ahead, discovering life both here and elsewhere is a source of fascination and this is what motivates her to give generously of her time.

Mrs. Gendron has been a teacher for 14 years and has always firmly believed in youth. When she took a two-year break from teaching to write a textbook for the Québec education reform, she became even more convinced that she preferred being in contact with young people rather than her computer. “I am more certain than ever that my rightful place is in a high school classroom and nowhere else,” she fervently declares.

Though passing on her knowledge in mathematics is stimulating from a professional viewpoint, the chance to enable students at her school to discover the basics of social dancing, a discipline she easily masters and in which she even participated in numerous competitions when she was younger, also allows her to establish closer ties with her students. “Six years ago, when I approached the principal with my project for a social dancing extracurricular activity, everybody was rather sceptical… and I must admit, so was I. But I went ahead with it and it works really well,” Mrs. Gendron asserts.

Ever since, the teacher has seen a long stream of students and even some teachers who also wished to take advantage of her expertise. It was so successful in fact that the school added a parallel activity called Danse exercice animation to the Danse animation activity, which is a physical workout done with social dance steps. “My greatest reward is to see a young boy who is very shy at the beginning of the year gradually gain confidence and end up taking part in a big show at the end of the year. When I see something like this, I realize that someone has benefited from my time and effort.”

Isabelle Gendron also loves to travel. “I am fortunate to be able to travel a lot and I believe that travel broadens the mind,” insists the Committed Staff Member finalist. This is how she came up with the idea two years ago of an annual cultural immersion trip to a South American country and presented her project to the school principal. As the school’s Spanish teacher had also made the same suggestion, the project took shape and students at the Collège have headed to Guatemala on two occasions and Honduras is the next destination planned for March 2010. During these trips, the students are fully immersed; they live with families for two weeks, learn Spanish and help develop formative projects in the host village.

“It’s good to get young people out of their everyday, and often comfortable, milieu and enable them to discover a different environment. They all learn something. Among other things, they learn that water doesn’t always come out of a tap like it does at home and that education is not necessarily accessible to everyone in some countries of the world.”

Although Isabelle Gendron’s involvement helps her to establish more solid and productive bonds with her students, it is not only because of the hundreds of hours she spends in their company that the students like and respect her. “Above and beyond her great faculty for understanding and adapting, Mrs. Gendron has a distinctive ability for communicating. Both during her classes and elsewhere, she creates an atmosphere of respect and discipline that is conducive to the transmission of knowledge. And in addition to her tremendous availability, she is always willing to lend an attentive ear to everyone,” asserts Cycle 1 educational services director Pierre Fortin.

Recognized for her creative spirit, enthusiasm and dynamism, while at the same time being very rigorous, Isabelle Gendron continuously strives to give all students at her school the chance to surpass themselves and learn. “High school can be a marvellous learning path for young people. I just try to help them realize this. It is my greatest source of motivation.”

Not a school year goes by when Josée Alain, a physical education and fine arts teacher at Saint-Charles high school, doesn’t organize original activities for her students to encourage them to get active. Her most recent project: to cycle all the way across Canada… on a stationary bicycle. When you add this to coaching the football and basketball teams, as well as all her other special projects, you get a teacher with a strong conviction that you can achieve academic success thanks to a healthy mind and healthy body.

Not a school year goes by when Josée Alain, a physical education and fine arts teacher at Saint-Charles high school, doesn’t organize original activities for her students to encourage them to get active. Her most recent project: to cycle all the way across Canada… on a stationary bicycle. When you add this to coaching the football and basketball teams, as well as all her other special projects, you get a teacher with a strong conviction that you can achieve academic success thanks to a healthy mind and healthy body.

“I am the kind of teacher who isn’t satisfied just teaching classes,” she asserts. “Every year, I try to find projects that will get students hooked on physical activity and thus help curb the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle among teenagers.”

For as long as she can remember, Josée Alain has always felt this strong need to be physically active. When she was very young, she used to get up at 5 a.m. and head to the arena on her own to take figure skating lessons. Today she still makes a great deal of effort, using her bike to get around whenever possible. Even her daughters have followed in her footsteps and both are high calibre national speed skating competitors. “When I made the leap from elementary to high school, I was amazed to see the extent to which young people were ceasing to take part in physical activities. I quickly realized that I would have to be twice as imaginative in order to get them involved and, more importantly, make sure they enjoyed it,” the teacher points out.

The students soon discovered the joys of touch football on snow (with the added bonus of the teacher being the target), volleyball on snow, snowshoeing excursions and track and field in the spring. And this was all it took to lay the foundations for the trans-Canada cycling trip on a stationary bike. “I wanted to encourage young people to take part in a physical activity outside my classroom. With this project, the participating teams have all year to get from Newfoundland to British Columbia.”

The idea is simple. The teams go to the fitness room during lunch hour and make progress by cumulating kilometres. At the moment, most of them have reached Ontario and one team is already in Manitoba. The teacher even thought of asking each province and a number of Canadian cities for tourist information, videos and promotional material. For those who complete the challenge, a bike will be raffled at the end. “What’s more, this project is a combination of physical activity and geography. It’s super!”

Josée Alain is always ready to take up a challenge as long as it has a positive impact for young people. It therefore didn’t take much to convince her to accept the role of coach of the school’s brand new football team in 2007. “I knew nothing about football, or hardly anything, but I agreed for the sake of all the students who dreamed of being part of the team. Now there’s a whole group of coaches and the team is doing very well.” It was the same story when the time came to offer the girls at school the possibility of joining a basketball team that would compete in a few exhibition games against other schools in the area.

The setting up of the Réno-vélo and Multi-Arts projects, intended for students with learning disabilities, was another wonderful initiative on her part. These projects enabled students to repair old bikes and donate them to the needy and to produce works of art that were then part of a public exhibition, two sources of pride for these young people who only too often experience failure. And then there are the numerous talks given by high-calibre athletes that she has organized so that they could share their experience of success.

“Thanks to her determination, passion, patience, desire to surpass herself and above all because she believes in today’s young people, Mrs. Alain has become a role model for students. Schools throughout Québec would gain from being full of role models like her,” asserts in the most favourable terms Guylaine Keable, a parent member of the school’s governing board.

“When a parent tells you that without your involvement their child would almost certainly have quit school, I think that I have helped change things. And it’s so nice to see all these students getting involved, having fun and smiling with happiness. It’s really rewarding,” the teacher concludes.

May the most die-hard environmentalists be forewarned, the Comité environnemental révolutionnaire et formidable (CERF), an environmental committee at the Externat Sacré-Cœur in Rosemère, has plenty of ideas for persuading everybody to do their part for our planet. From salvaging cellular phones, ink cartridges, batteries and compact discs, to recycling second-hand toys and replacing disposable dishes with reusable ones, the student members of CERF have an unending list of ways to reduce their school’s ecological footprint. And the best part is, everyone is involved.

May the most die-hard environmentalists be forewarned, the Comité environnemental révolutionnaire et formidable (CERF), an environmental committee at the Externat Sacré-Cœur in Rosemère, has plenty of ideas for persuading everybody to do their part for our planet. From salvaging cellular phones, ink cartridges and batteries, to recycling second-hand toys and replacing disposable dishes with reusable ones, the student members of CERF have an unending list of ways to reduce their school’s ecological footprint. And the best part is, everyone is involved.

When Nicole Marcouiller, the science and technology teacher, asked her students to prepare a presentation on cellular phones and their impact on the environment, she didn’t expect to see a few of her students come up with the suggestion to set up a project for salvaging cellular phones. One thing led to another, the project was endorsed by the school and took shape, and more importantly, since its official launch in February 2007, CERF has boosted volunteerism among students, whose commitment and the magnitude of their actions is amazing. “We really wanted to get this project off the ground. We believed in it and knew it would work,” recalls one of the founders Janie Mayeu, who is now in Secondary 4.

The project snowballed. Because of the organization’s efficiency in regard to recycling phones, ink cartridges, batteries and aluminium containers, the students decided to take on the recycling of compact discs and to salvage school supplies so as to give them a second life and then send everything to the Dominican Republic. But this was still not enough! CERF, the core of which is made up of fifteen or so members, for the most part students, then resolved to aim very high by changing the practices of their school cafeteria. “Replacing disposable dishes with reusable ones was our biggest project,” confides Secondary 4 student Guillaume Couture. “At first, several volunteer students were responsible for making sure the project worked properly but now it is well established. Everybody does their share.”

This year, CERF hasn’t broken its stride. A project launched last November to collect second-hand toys has enabled the students to donate close to 600 toys and games to the Joujou Récup “R” organization. And the committee will again be reintroducing its campaign for distributing indigenous species of trees as part of the trees and forests month. More than 150 people have already shown their interest by formally committing in writing to plant a tree and thus make a concrete gesture for the environment.

“Our actions have become contagious. Students and staff members alike are now asking what they can do to play an active role in our projects,” the teacher remarks.

“Our projects are not dictated by a trend but aim instead to truly improve the situation. And first and foremost, the example set at school then influences what people do at home. Every gesture counts. At school, waste has been reduced by almost two thirds. Isn’t that amazing!” points out Assistant Director of Student Services Ann Webber.

The success of CERF is so inspiring that it led to a partnership with Rosemère’s horticultural and ecological society in a project for developing discovery areas and rest areas along the banks of the Rivière aux Chiens, located near the Externat Sacré-Cœur.

Striving as much as possible to preach by example, even for their fund-raising activities - as all projects of course require a certain amount of funding -, the students created and sold over 800 bracelets made from 100% natural materials. Another project for greeting cards for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day is also in the making. “There are a lot of students who help us with these fund-raising projects. They want to lend a hand and it’s motivating. With the committee, we have in a way become the voice for other students in all matters relating to the environment at school. Everyone can contribute ideas and we ensure that they are heard. It’s great to be able to be involved like this,” concludes Secondary 5 student Chloé Lavoie.

We have all had individuals as classmates who were sometimes… surprising. But when the classmate in question is a corn snake, a bearded dragon or perhaps a dwarf caiman, you have every reason to be amazed. This is exactly the type of fellow member of the Secondary 1 science and technology class at Le Mistral high school in Mont-Joli. In total, 300 specimens of 80 different species make up the Mistral-Sauvage mini-zoo, a project established by teacher Claude Desrosiers with the help of an extensive team of budding naturalists. And as the crowning achievement, the Mistral Sauvage even obtained a licence from the ministry of wildlife granting it the official right to be called a zoo.

We have all had individuals as classmates who were sometimes… surprising. But when the classmate in question is a corn snake, a bearded dragon or perhaps a dwarf caiman, you have every reason to be amazed. This is exactly the type of fellow member of the Secondary 1 science and technology class at Le Mistral high school in Mont-Joli. In total, 300 specimens of 80 different species make up the Mistral-Sauvage mini-zoo, a project established by teacher Claude Desrosiers with the help of an extensive team of budding naturalists.

It took Claude Desrosiers a great deal of time to set up his mini-zoo project at a school. An enthusiast since childhood of everything that crawls or thrives close to the ground, the teacher with 15 years of experience clearly recalls the day when he suddenly had the brainstorm of converting his classroom into a mini-zoo dedicated to reptiles and fish.

“At the time, I had a class with severe behavioural problems. Spring break was drawing near and I was very worried about my last day with the class. It was then that I came up with the idea of bringing an 80-cm long iguana that was part of my private collection. If the students were well behaved, I would let them see what was in my container at the end of class. As the container kept moving on its own, the students were really intrigued. You should have seen their eyes light up when I got out my iguana. It was then that I realized that I was on to something simply brilliant.”

One thing led to another and Mr. Desrosiers, with the consent of the school principal, began bringing more and more animals, even lodging them permanently in his classroom. And then during the 2006-2007 school year the collection was such that the Mistral Sauvage mini-zoo officially came into being.

In summer 2008, the ultimate token of recognition crowned the efforts made by the teacher and his students. It was at this time that the Mistral Sauvage obtained an official licence from the ministry of wildlife and became the only school in the province with the right to house a zoo. This privilege also grants the Mistral Sauvage the right to acquire specific species and even undertake exchanges with other organizations that have a zoo permit. It was thanks to these rights that the mini-zoo managed to acquire a dwarf caiman, the organization’s star pupil.

“It wasn’t always easy and at one point I even felt like giving up. But when you see all these young people getting involved in the organization, from cleaning the cages to feeding the animals, it’s well worth the effort. Without them, the project would never have attained such scope,” the teacher explains, adding that he can count on the support of fifteen or so students on almost a daily basis as well as all those who lend a hand once in a while during the year.

In addition to the pleasures of having an impressive animal collection close at hand, the zoo provides students with an almost inexhaustible source of educational material. Not forgetting the effect it has on the classroom atmosphere. “Instead of bothering the animals, some students simply observe them. Once in a while I just have to bring them back to the subject matter.”

“I learned a lot about animals last year. As I want to be a veterinarian, I find the project is a good idea,” explains Benoît Bédard, who is now in Secondary 2 and acts as the teacher’s helper and supervises the team during lunch hour, recess and even after school.

“At first, I was prejudiced against snakes but I got to learn more about them and I like them. And we are always here with other students who love animals. It’s really great,” says Alex Marquis-Roussel.

To enable others to share in the educational scope of the mini-zoo, Le Mistral school even sent out invitations to primary schools and local day-care centres to organize group tours. There was a spontaneous response and the few periods reserved for these visits were quickly filled up. The visits were even used as a means of raising funds for the mini-zoo, which is responsible for meeting the daily operating costs.

“This project is a real pedagogical tool and also a way of establishing ties with young people. I believe more than ever that its future is secure for many years to come and I am really pleased,” Claude Desrosiers concludes with enthusiasm.

The passage from elementary to high school can at times be somewhat turbulent. For Bianca Lamontagne, this transition was marked by rebellion. Rejecting authority and school, the young girl who was twelve at the time ended up on a path studded with foster homes, drug and alcohol abuse, running away and violence, a turbulent course that propelled her at 200 kilometres/hour directly towards dropping out of school. But one day she decided to slow down and pick up where she had left off, and she now stands out as a model of perseverance and wants more than anything else to pursue a career as a youth counsellor.

The passage from elementary to high school can at times be somewhat turbulent. For Bianca Lamontagne, this transition was marked by rebellion. Rejecting authority and school, the young girl who was twelve at the time ended up on a path studded with foster homes, drug and alcohol abuse, running away and violence, a turbulent course that propelled her at 200 kilometres/hour directly towards dropping out of school. But one day she decided to slow down and pick up where she had left off, and she now stands out as a model of perseverance.

Today, Bianca Lamontagne is 14 years old and enrolled in an adapted Secondary 2 program at Edgar-Hébert high school and is aglow with self-confidence and ambition. It is a radical transformation from the Bianca of barely one year ago. While her academic path was, at one point, extremely difficult and punctuated with expulsions, skipped classes and intimidation, the young girl now distinguishes herself thanks to her participation in class and the leadership role she assumes with brio among her peers. “She is a ray of sunshine, inspiring others to get involved and work hard whenever the opportunity arises,” school principal Joël Mercier is quick to point out.

Bianca has finally found in her new way of life a more stable environment with which she can identify much more easily without feeling the need to please anyone but herself, and she has thus regained control and taken a huge step towards attaining academic success, something that her family whom she has just returned to live with are very pleased about. “I no longer care what people think, I just get on with my life. The teachers around me help me a lot and I really appreciate it. I also like being able to lend a hand to my classmates. It’s motivating,” asserts the young girl who, when you listen to what she has to say, shows every sign that her experience of life has helped her gain a great deal of maturity.

Moreover, despite her young age, Bianca now knows more than ever about the professional field she is aiming towards. “I want to work as a youth counsellor. I am well placed to understand young people who are going through difficult times and I know I would be able to help them. I am very good at listening and I don’t pass judgement on others. I think these are some of the qualities required for the career I want to follow,” she firmly states.

Though she no longer has any doubt about her ability to succeed, this has not always been the case for Bianca. While she tried to act tough when she ran away from home, this period nevertheless had a very negative impact on her self-esteem. Today, every little achievement and every positive remark helps heal the wounds. “At one point, I was sure I’d never come through all right because I’d gone much too far. Now when people congratulate me for my efforts, it makes me realize that I made the right choices.”

According to her teachers and her tutor Raymond Champagne, Bianca would be in a position, in terms of her studies, to reintegrate the normal high school program next year. However, after discussing it with her, it was agreed that she would stay in the adapted program for the time being so that she can really consolidate what she has learned and rebuild her confidence. “In the adapted program, we work on core subjects but also put a lot of emphasis on establishing trusting relationships with the students and talking with them. We have succeeded in doing this very well with Bianca and the best part is, she is also capable of establishing relationships with her fellow students,” says her tutor.

If perseverance is the main tool for preventing students from dropping out of school, it is also the best one for regaining a balanced lifestyle. For Bianca, perseverance has been and still is her everyday work tool. “You must never give up. Even when you feel you’ll never be able to succeed, you must push forward and try to the very end. In order to do so, I had to make choices and stop hanging around with certain people. Now I feel good about myself and I know that things can only get better. Everyone can succeed if they make enough effort, that’s for sure!”

Desperate times call for desperate measures! When it’s time to get involved to make sure an event is a success or to solve problems that could actually prevent events from taking place, Patrice Larrivée, a Secondary 4 student at La Camaradière, rolls up his sleeves and takes action. The student parliament, school council, welcoming committee, peer support, he’ll stop at nothing to ensure that everyone succeeds. And he has even gone so far as to use a megaphone to encourage students to get to their classes on time in order to solve the issue of lateness that can sometimes be a problem when trying to set up activities. There has to be action and if there isn’t, he gets things moving!

Desperate times call for desperate measures! When it’s time to get involved to make sure an event is a success or to solve problems that could actually prevent events from taking place, Patrice Larrivée, a Secondary 4 student at La Camaradière, rolls up his sleeves and takes action. The student parliament, school council, welcoming committee, peer support, he’ll stop at nothing to ensure that everyone succeeds. And he has even gone so far as to use a megaphone to encourage students to get to their classes on time in order to solve the issue of lateness that can sometimes be a problem when trying to set up activities.

“I hate sitting around doing nothing,” the young man proclaims loudly. “I need to be on the move and help out. What’s more, making projects work and helping those around me really makes me happy.”

This is how it’s been ever since Patrice entered high school. In his very first year, he joined the student council, ferreting about all over the place to make sure he could contribute to as many projects as possible. His involvement for five years with the Royal Canadian Army Cadets has also played a significant role in Patrice’s development and his desire to surpass himself. “I learned to be accountable for my actions when I was very young, and how to develop my sense of initiative and become a leader,” he asserts.

During an interview, Patrice explained that his school is very demanding in terms of the rate of student participation in special events. For an extracurricular activity to be held, at least 80% of students must sign up. And this is how he came up with the idea, along with a few other students, of organizing Motivation Week, a week during which a megaphone ended up coming in very handy. “It’s a shame when you suggest activities and then, for lack of participation, they have to be cancelled. We have raised awareness of this problem among students and I am sure it will be better in future.”

Patrice is a brilliant student who always shows respect for both his teachers and peers; he is a positive person with an on-going concern for finding the solutions to problems and he naturally inspires confidence. “He is appreciated by all the adults, but also by all his fellow students, and this says a lot about his personality and how he is perceived by others. I for one have seen him grow and the minute he arrived here I saw his qualities and said to myself that he would leave a significant mark at our school,” says Vice-Principal Éric Bolduc.

A member of the volley-ball team, a model in a major fashion show, a valuable contributor on welcoming days every year and a technician on a regular basis during school events such as the Secondaire en spectacle show, the young man always tries to see very big. He gets involved when he knows he can make a difference and help others achieve success. This is why he devotes a great deal of time to the peer support program where he helps others with their schoolwork. “What really motivates me is when I see students who put a lot of effort into their studies and I am able to help them make even more progress.”

Patrice is aware of different social issues and has often given of his time accompanying young disabled people during sports activities. He will soon be participating, along with other young people, in the soup kitchen activity, lending a helping hand to an organization that provides meals to the most destitute. And he also helped set up two fund-raising events, one for the Children’s Wish Foundation and the other for the Québec Breast Cancer Foundation. The latter was carried out last November and took the shape of a huge race for quarters where the girls on one side and the boys on the other were asked to line up the greatest number of quarters. Thanks to the activity, close to $270 was donated to the Foundation.

Patrice recently obtained the Lieutenant Governor Award that pays tribute to the involvement of young students in their school community and will soon be aiming to attain the Gold level of the Duke of Edinburgh program, an international program that seeks to acknowledge the achievements of young people between the ages of 14 and 25. “I get involved in loads of projects because I know I’ll learn new things. I see myself one day as being someone who is there for others, offering them my help and support. It will be my way, as I’m doing at the moment, of helping those around me do better.”

If it were possible, Charles Gascon, a Secondary 5 student at Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntingdon, would probably spend his whole life travelling, discovering different cultures and learning from these experiences. But when you’re only 16 years old and have to go to school every day, you have to be imaginative to achieve your aims. But Charles knows how to make the most of his imagination. A three-month student exchange with a boy in Prince Edward Island, his involvement with the 4-H Club that enabled him to visit British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, a family trip to Europe, Charles never passes up the chance to quench his thirst for discovery and satisfy his natural curiosity.

If it were possible, Charles Gascon, a Secondary 5 student at Arthur-Pigeon high school in Huntingdon, would probably spend his whole life travelling, discovering different cultures and learning from these experiences. But when you’re only 16 years old and have to go to school every day, you have to be imaginative to achieve your aims. But Charles knows how to make the most of his imagination. A three-month student exchange with a boy in Prince Edward Island, his involvement with the 4-H Club that enabled him to visit British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, a family trip to Europe, Charles never passes up the chance to quench his thirst for discovery.

Charles Gascon admits that he is naturally very curious and has an innate sense of commitment – something, he quickly points out, that he inherited from his family. He learned at an early age that to get what you want, you must work hard and seize every opportunity you are given in life to learn. A member of his school’s council of leaders, a student representative on the governing board and this year the elected president of the school graduation party committee, Charles in a way has taken up where his brother and sisters also made their mark. “I am the youngest of five children and each and every one of us has been involved at one point or another. In fact my parents are very involved in our community. They are role models for us,” he proudly asserts.

His family’s example also led Charles to take an interest in the 4-H Club in Huntingdon, of which he is currently the vice-president after having spent two years as its treasurer. And because Huntingdon is primarily an agricultural area, the 4-H Club enables young people to carry out projects relating to this type of economic activity. For his part, Charles has exhibited dairy heifers and participated in agricultural judgement and expertise competitions.

His commitment has enabled him to take part in two 10-day exchanges in each of the two Canadian provinces farthest west. He also represented Québec at the National 4-H Conference that was held recently in Toronto. He then went to Ottawa to participate in an event focussing on Canadian citizenship. And as he was the only perfectly bilingual participant, Charles hosted the event for seven days and even made a speech at a citizenship ceremony for new Canadian residents. For him, it was an unforgettable experience! “It was truly touching to see them weep tears of joy. It’s so easy to forget just how comfortable we are here,” he recounts.

These experiences, combined with his three-month stay in Prince Edward Island, have greatly helped Charles Gascon become a much more self-assured young man, who shows sound leadership skills and above all speaks fluent English. He is so convinced that these three cultural exchanges have been beneficial to him that he decided to promote them at his school. Equipped with his presentation, he went around the Secondary 3 and 4 classrooms sharing his experience, talking about the people he met, the different lifestyles he discovered and the friends he made.

“Charles is a motivated and committed young man who continuously strives to improve the world around him. He is determined, independent and an outstanding worker at school. This is in fact what he tries to pass on to the younger students by tutoring mathematics during lunch hour,” explains Lori Belair, one of Charles’ teachers.

Charles himself admits that the tutoring that he has now been doing for three years was, at the outset, an opportunity for him to see if he would like to one day be a teacher. For the time being, he hasn’t ruled out this option, but at the moment he seems more tempted by a career in politics. “Over the past few years, I have become much more open to the world and I have an ever-increasing desire to discover the world that is opening up to me. In opting for politics, I could help bring about change. And to be able to solve problems, you must be able to understand them and go out in the field to see for yourself. This is therefore something I try to do as often as possible,” he concludes with a sparkle in his eye.

To locate the classroom belonging to Julie Lévesque, a teacher at Roger-Comtois high school, you don’t need a map or to ask for directions. All you have to do is follow the sound of the music bursting from the room. And if it stops, it’s probably because the teacher has allowed herself to be swept away by her extraordinary energy, taking advantage of a lull between two scales to pass on her passion for music or to prepare her students for one of the hundred and one projects (shows, trips, cultural outings and galas) she concocts for the youngsters to whom she is dedicated heart and soul.

To locate the classroom belonging to Julie Lévesque, a teacher at Roger-Comtois high school, you don’t need a map or to ask for directions. All you have to do is follow the sound of the music bursting from the room. And if it stops, it’s probably because the teacher has allowed herself to be swept away by her extraordinary energy, taking advantage of a lull between two scales to pass on her passion for music or to prepare her students for one of the hundred and one projects she concocts for the youngsters to whom she is dedicated heart and soul.

“For me, teaching is a real vocation. It’s instinctive,” she vows. “Young people for me are a source of life and the future. This is why I devote so much of my time to them. And when they come to me with a good idea for a project, I say to myself: “What’s one more, it’s not going to change much!” So I go for it.”

If Julie Lévesque rarely passes up a chance to put her skills as a music teacher to good use, it is undoubtedly because she continuously strives to expand the musical horizons of her students and thus give them a taste for taking up challenges and undertaking formative artistic processes.

Among the numerous projects currently in the works, there’s the upcoming variety show on May 19 that will be presented at the Théâtre Petit Champlain. Simultaneously playing the role of producer, director and stage manager, and with help of a few of her students, Julie Lévesque will enable forty or so teenagers to get a taste of the excitement of stepping onto a professional stage were they will perform classical and popular works as well as creations from the “Textes engagés” project.

And then there’s the project for the launch of a record that Julie Lévesque is in charge of along with the French teacher Lynda Riverain. For the occasion, the students must write the texts and the best ten will be selected. The music students, supervised by their teacher, will then compose the musical arrangements. The students will be responsible for the entire creative process. “I want to bring out the best in my young people. I don’t necessarily want to turn them into professionals; I just want to see them happy and enthusiastic about something. It’s all part of the job description,” she asserts.

This is why it is very hard for her to refuse her help when students ask for it. This was the case when some of her students suggested they stage, from A to Z, the musical comedy The Phantom of the Opera. Despite her manifold projects, Julie nevertheless decided to help them with their project, a decision than ended up entailing hours and hours of her support. But the students were able to present the show in an elementary school. “When I saw their enthusiasm, seriousness and resolve, I just couldn’t resist. Some of them live for their project all year round and it keeps them committed to school. I honestly couldn’t just abandon them,” she says laughingly.

And you think that’s all? Far from it, as there’s also the organization of a cultural trip to Chicago and New York, the preparation of the musicians for the school’s Gala de l’Excellence and the open-house day, the setting up of cultural outings to the Québec opera and her participation in a poetry evening. Moreover, Julie Lévesque gives lessons, as a volunteer and outside her regular work schedule, to certain students wishing to prepare for their entry exam for the collegiate music program.

Mrs. Lévesque also plays a vital role in the Soirée des arts de la Capitale event that gives student artists from schools under the De la Capitale and Premières Seigneuries school boards the chance to perform on stage at the Capitole de Québec. She looks after the entire organization, from negotiating the use of audition rooms to the logistics and administrative aspects. She overlooks nothing.

Julie Lévesque is always good-humoured, has a contagious laugh and is unfailingly open-minded. Over the years she has become more than just a teacher for her students. Always available and willing to listen, students often confide in her and ask for her advice. “I truly believe I have gained the trust of my students and I say this with all due modesty. I enjoy doing what I do. It’s not even work. And this is something I think my students can feel and this is why they trust me… and also why I keep doing it.”

“A drop of water won’t change the colour of the ocean but it can have an influence on the drops around it.” In proclaiming these words, Brahim El Fadil, a science teacher at the École internationale Saint-Edmond in Greenfield Park, simply wishes to ignite a spark of commitment in the person who hears them. When pursuing his studies, he was highly committed himself, among other things in the fight for human rights, the condition of women and social injustice, and he has made it his duty to show his students that by taking concerted action, you can make a difference. Whether it’s visiting senior citizens, doing his part on Earth Day or participating in the Marche 2/3, Brahim El Fadil’s commitment is characterized by his desire to raise awareness of social solidarity.

“A drop of water won’t change the colour of the ocean but it can have an influence on the drops around it.” In proclaiming these words, Brahim El Fadil, a science teacher at the École internationale Saint-Edmond in Greenfield Park, simply wishes to ignite a spark of commitment in the person who hears them. When pursuing his studies, he was highly committed himself, among other things in the fight for human rights, the condition of women and social injustice, and he has made it his duty to show his students that by taking concerted action, you can make a difference.

Originally from Morocco, Brahim El Fadil arrived in Québec at the end of 2002. Born into a large family with hardly any income and living in one of the poorest villages in Morocco located in a desert region, the teacher realized at a very early age that if he hoped to have a better future he would have to work twice as hard. “Without an education, I knew that I would get nowhere. I could only count on myself and every summer I worked really hard to put aside a little money for my studies,” Brahim recounts.

Despite everything, and even though as a youth he was focussing hard on his own personal success, he would never have thought of giving up in the face of the social injustice that is emblematic of his country. As soon as he entered high school, Brahim therefore chose, despite the inherent risks, to militate against the blatant injustice rampant in Morocco. “I fought for causes I believed were just, against fundamentalists who thought they were above everything, but this didn’t change a thing. This is the reason I decided to come here. To give myself a chance to go further in life and to see my children grow up in a country where they have the possibility of moving forward.”

And then one day, Brahim’s activist feelings came back to haunt him. In his attempt to get more involved, he met Josée Ranger, the school board’s counsellor in spiritual life and community involvement, who he realized could be a perfect ally to his ambitions. “Following a presentation I gave at school, Brahim came to see me. He told me his story and talked about how he would like to get involved with young people. I quickly realized that together we could set up some really interesting projects with the students,” recalls Mrs. Ranger, who describes Brahim as a very dynamic person towards whom young people are spontaneously attracted.

Ever since, the teacher has taken advantage of many opportunities to raise awareness of various causes among young people and to encourage them to take concrete action. This was the case with the Main Rouge campaign that invited students to expose the injustice faced by child soldiers and again with the special activity linked to Earth Day where Mr. El Fadil, with the help of students, set up an information kiosk on climate change with a green petition that was signed and sent to the federal government. This May, thanks to another of his initiatives, the students will be planting trees on school grounds, one more concrete gesture for our planet.

Taking advantage of the fact that his wife is a nurse at a long-term care facility, Brahim has also formed a kind of delegation of Secondary 1 students who go to visit senior citizens, who are often alone, and take part in activities with them. “Sometimes you have to push young people to unplug their MP3 player and connect with those around them. They want to get involved. You just have to provide them with the opportunity to do so,” he asserts.

Naturally, Brahim El Fadil still has a strong concern for social injustices, especially those that prevail in his native country. For example, he read on the Internet about a young 17-year-old Moroccan boy, the fan of a Spanish football team, who was imprisoned for two years for writing on the school blackboard “God, Nation, FC-Barcelone,” thus deforming the country’s motto “God, Nation, King.”

“On May 14, we will be participating in the Marche 2/3 in Montréal to raise awareness among young people of international solidarity. And next December, we are going to write letters to the poor boy mentioned above who has been the victim of injustice. I have seen people do noble deeds for me and for my community. It is now my turn to do the same and to transmit sound values and a sense of responsibility to our young people,” the teacher explains.

In channelling the creative energy of young Secondary 2 students and turning this energy into a pedagogical tool for autistic children, the students at Regina Assumpta high school succeeded in accomplishing quite a feat and they did so with brio. By producing a series of highly colourful pictograms, the members of the project wanted to break down the communication barriers with autistic children so as to encourage them to take part in physical activity and participate in the Défi sportif 2009 that just took place in Montréal.

“When children don’t acquire the spoken language, they must be offered alternative ways of communicating. And pictograms are one of them”, points out visual arts teacher Nathalie Claude, who founded the project.

It was following her time at L’Étincelle school, a school reserved for children with disabilities, that Nathalie Claude discovered the special world of autism. When she later began teaching at Regina Assumpta school, she wanted to strengthen her commitment to autistic children in a different way. She thought that the idea of getting her new students to in turn open up to this particular world could be highly constructive.

“The challenge they were given was to transmit a clear message to a target clientele. You have to understand that autistic children do not all react in the same way to certain messages. We therefore chose the twenty best pictograms and then submitted them to the team of professionals at L’Étincelle for their approval.”

Though it is still too early to assess the effectiveness of the new pedagogical tool developed by the students, the project was well received by the specialists currently experimenting with the twenty pictograms that were created. And, depending on the conclusions reached by the members of staff at the end of the year, the project could take on greater proportions as early as next year. “This is a project that clearly shows that the arts can be beneficial for both teaching and communicating. As I often say, with the arts, you can go anywhere you want,” the teacher asserts.

Produced on 20 cm by 20 cm cards, the pictograms illustrate the various sports activities that are available at L’Étincelle school. Among other things, there’s one with a person running, another throwing a shot put, one of someone on a trampoline and another on a push scooter. For Jessica Massoud, one of the students whose work was selected, it was ballet that served as her source of inspiration. “It was a truly great experience and one in which I got really involved,” she asserts. “I discovered a different world from my own and I said to myself that, if I have been able to help these autistic children, then it was well worth the effort.”

It should be pointed out that the artistic process that all these students engaged in was closely supervised and highly structured. To be able to focus one’s ideas and creativity with the goal of successfully establishing direct contact with an autistic child is no easy task. A teacher specializing in autism visited the young students at Regina Assumpta school and taught them about visual codes and the characteristics of the target clientele. Some students even did research outside class time so as to better understand this clientele. Their commitment was so strong that the school authorities even decided to organize a public exhibition that showed throughout the month of March. Moreover, a video was produced explaining to visitors the real and tangible scope of the project.

The aim of the “C’est à toi de jouer !” project is simply to dare to do things differently while offering students an education focused on making decisions and taking on responsibility.

“The students are proud to have been able to help these autistic children. They were deeply touched by their experience and they realized - and so did their parents - that art can act in different ways. All these notions of challenge, sharing and acceptance truly brought this project to life and we are all delighted” concludes Nathalie Claude.

Living with a speech problem is definitely no picnic, even less so when you’re a teenage boy. Gabriel Méthot, now a Secondary 3 student at Séminaire Saint-François, has been afflicted with a stuttering problem since first grade and could speak volumes on the subject. There was a time not so long ago when, for Gabriel, making a simple oral presentation would prove to be a real nightmare. But for the past year, his resolve and effort have enabled him to take his rightful place, to gain confidence in himself and even become the member of a music group… as a singer!

Living with a speech problem is definitely no picnic, even less so when you’re a teenage boy. Gabriel Méthot, now a Secondary 3 student at Séminaire Saint-François, has been afflicted with a stuttering problem since first grade and could speak volumes on the subject. There was a time not so long ago when, for Gabriel, making a simple oral presentation would prove to be a real nightmare. But for the past year, his resolve and effort have enabled him to take his rightful place, to gain confidence in himself and even become the member of a music group… as a singer!

Ever since Gabriel has had to come to terms, on a daily basis, with his stuttering disability, or rather “manufacturing defect” as his parents prefer to call it, his life has not always been easy, especially at school. Despite being considered a gifted student, Gabriel’s constant involuntary hesitations often made him the victim of mockery and made him try to be totally anonymous in class. To such a point in fact that he could no longer even conceive of asking a question in class. But then one day, when he entered Secondary 2, he decided he’d had enough.

“I understood that I mustn’t say to myself “I stutter, such is life and there’s nothing I can do about it.” I chose to tackle life and forge ahead. And I was fed up of being scared to go to restaurants and place my order. Things had to change,” he recalls with emotion. With the help of the school resource teacher Karine Guilbert-Blanchette, Gabriel therefore developed strategies so as to give his teachers and fellow students a clearer understanding of his disability. It was also at this time that Gabriel began speech therapy, therapy that he followed for a year and a half and that was aimed at helping him to get to grips with his problem.

“The most difficult aspect of speech therapy is that the exercises learned must be applied as often as possible in everyday life. Because the results are not immediately apparent, most people quickly give up. Gabriel, however, set himself apart in the very first weeks. Occasionally, I sensed he was discouraged and exhausted, but he never gave in,” points out the young boy’s speech therapist Tatiana Rafenomanjato.

From one day to the next, from one week to the next, all those around Gabriel were happy to note the positive changes that were taking effect. His parents soon saw the difference between the former Gabriel, who used to go off to school his head bowed and eyes red worried about his upcoming oral presentation, and the new Gabriel, who was becoming increasingly open to others and speaking more and more, both at home and at school. “Thanks to your inner strength, you have persevered in your everyday life and you have found a way of turning this foe into a friend. You are a model for all young people who have to live on a daily basis with a speech problem,” his parents often enjoy reminding him.

And you can imagine how surprised his family were when Gabriel decided to make a dream come true by signing up for private singing lessons. With the wind in his sails because of his remarkable progress and newfound self-esteem, Gabriel became the singer in a group and then entered the group to take part in the inter-school Secondaire en spectacle competition. It was an exhilarating experience and one the group decided to repeat by auditioning for the school’s Cultural Gala. Gabriel will soon be participating as a soloist in a year-end musical production presented by his singing school.

“He could have decided to withdraw into silence, to become a “class ghost,” but he chose to take drastic measures and allow himself to be himself,” attests his French teacher Danielle Béland.

At the tender age of 14 going on 15, Gabriel Méthot now sees a future ahead of him that all teenagers his age dream about. With his great maturity, he sees life with freshly acquired optimism. “I now get up feeling good. I believe in myself and I’m happy. I have come out of my shell and I’m opening up to the world. Turning back is simply out of the question,” he asserts in an outburst of pride.

If there’s one period in life when you feel on top of the world and you forge ahead regardless of the obstacles on your path, it has to be adolescence. This is most probably why Marc-André St-Louis remained impassive when, at the age of only 16, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. At the time, he was much more concerned for his parents and family, but he soon had to face the facts. A good student and thriving athlete, his focus of attention quickly turned solely towards his health. Today, Marc-André is in full remission and is slowly regaining control of a life that he now appreciates and sees in a whole new light.

If there’s one period in life when you feel on top of the world and you forge ahead regardless of the obstacles on your path, it has to be adolescence. This is most probably why Marc-André St-Louis remained impassive when, at the age of only 16, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. At the time, he was much more concerned for his parents and family, but he soon had to face the facts. A good student and thriving athlete, his focus of attention quickly turned solely towards his health. Today, Marc-André is in full remission and is slowly regaining control of a life that he now appreciates and sees in a whole new light.

The first symptoms of the disease that was to beset Marc-André St-Louis were felt back in the winter of 2008 and this is when it all began for the Secondary 5 student at Collège Français in Longueuil. Marc-André, who was in Secondary 4 at the time and enrolled in the sports concentration program in soccer, recalls that the illness first manifested itself as breathing problems. “It was really weird. I could no longer perform like before. After only five minutes on the soccer field, I had trouble breathing and getting my breath back. But I figured it would pass,” admits somewhat shyly the boy who saw these symptoms as something like a persistent cold that would eventually clear up.

However, two or three months later when the symptoms only got worse and even made him throw up nearly every morning, he decided to consult a doctor. He was curiously diagnosed as having either asthma or an ulcer, and Marc-André and his parents chose to ask for a second opinion. The verdict fell: stage 4 Hodgkin’s disease. “It was really worrying. I didn’t truly grasp what was happening. I saw my mother cry and my father too, probably for the first time.”

Fortunately, this type of cancer can be treated and Marc-André immediately started to receive the medical care he needed. Diagnosed on May 13, he began his first chemotherapy treatments on the 28th. It was the end of school and his days on the soccer field and there was no time for friends. Marc-André was no longer fighting for the ball, he was fighting for his life. “When you’re used to doing sports every day and suddenly you can’t do anything anymore, it’s pretty hard on the morale. But at least I had support from the school and, because of my good academic grades, I obtained a special dispensation enabling my to pass my year without taking the exams,” he confides.

The day of July 14 marked the end of treatment and just over two weeks later Marc-André found out that he was in full remission. The effort had paid off but the battle was far from won. As early as August 21 — Marc-André knows all these dates, forever engraved in his memory —, the young man began radiotherapy treatment, the goal of which is to reduce the chances of contracting another form of cancer. Once again, the path was going to be difficult and required a great deal of perseverance and patience on the part of Marc-André.

The return to school was of course hard going as Marc-André suffered from severe fatigue due to the radiotherapy treatment and he consequently had trouble concentrating. His grades suffered drastically. But the school once again came to his aid and asked that he finish treatment before coming back. It was only on October 22 that he finally returned to class.

From that moment on, the Collège administration provided flexibility and teaching assistance. He gradually reintegrated the soccer team, had a private tutor to help with some of the more difficult subjects and seized every opportunity to make up for lost time. “I even enrolled in a winter soccer league so as to get back in shape,” he asserts.

“It’s not easy to go through an ordeal like this when you’re a teenager. You become different from the others. But Marc-André never gave up. He wanted to come to school even if at times he was still not feeling well. He has always wanted to be treated like everyone else. He is competitive and this helped him survive the ordeal,” recounts with admiration Anny Chandonnet, the person in charge of Secondary 4 and 5.

Some people say that every trial and tribulation, regardless of how terrible it may be, is a learning experience. This couldn’t be truer for Marc-André. “I used to want to have everything without having to make much effort. Today I have to work twice as hard to catch up and I truly appreciate everything I have. Now, when I’m out on the soccer field, I appreciate how lucky I am. But the best thing that has come out of this painful experience is that I am now much closer to my parents, especially my mother, and this is terrific,” admits Marc-André.

“I have never understood how people can live their lives without taking things in hand and instead letting others take responsibility for everything. This is why I have never been afraid to get involved in a project.” It is with an assurance and conviction seldom seen in a young woman her age that Marianne Racine, a Secondary 5 student at Polyvalente Saint-Joseph in Mont-Laurier, makes this assertion. Marianne believes that you should always give the best of yourself and never give up, and she preaches by example, inspiring all those around her to surpass themselves.

Be it as secretary general of the Student Parliament at her school, for which among other things she helped organize a recycling and composting awareness campaign, as captain of the Génies en herbe team or as a member of the yearbook committee and the technical team for a play staged by students at the Polyvalente, Marianne never ceases to amaze thanks to her sense of initiative and her leadership.

This is indeed the case with her work for the “Heureux comme Ulysse” organization where Marianne is the director of communications on the board of directors, investing great effort in helping the organization achieve its goals. By setting up fundraising activities, the organization offers scholarships to young people in the region that allow them to go out and discover the world. “Our region isn’t a very affluent one and a lot of young people don’t have the chance to go very far to learn about other cultures and become more open to the world. Over the past two years, we have helped finance four trips and have at least one more scheduled for next year,” she explains, adding that just recently she even had the opportunity to participate in a cultural trip to Germany with her school and last year took part in Historica – Encounters with Canada, which enabled her to partake in a cultural exchange with other Canadians her age.

Marianne’s enthusiasm is also manifest in the consideration she shows to the younger students at her school. As a way of passing on to others some of her passion for getting involved, this year she gave a great deal of her time to the Secondary 1 students who wanted to join the Génies en herbe team. “At the beginning of the year, I hosted most of the games. If I hadn’t done so, they would have been cancelled and I think this would have really been a shame for the players.”

For Marianne, all art forms are a strong source of inspiration, though she admits she has a particular weakness for painting and drawing. She has been taking lessons for the past three years and her interest in these disciplines has never diminished. What’s more, her talent has enabled her to actively contribute to the staging of a play at her school thanks to her creation of sketches of the stage that have helped optimise space and movement. “I have also played in the theatre,” she energetically exclaims. “I think all art forms provide a means of escape and allow us to explore our artistic potential and give free rein to our imagination.”

Maintaining an overall grade average of around 90%, the 17-year-old student even participated in the 2009 edition of the Expo-sciences competition, representing her school at the local finals. For the occasion, Marianne and a fellow student presented their hypotheses regarding speciation, that is to say the evolutionary process through which new living species come into being.

With her acute curiosity, she is intrigued by everything that creates a buzz around her and constantly seeks to understand the how and why. It of course came as no surprise to anyone when she announced that she planned to head to the University of Ottawa upon graduating from high school to pursue studies in biopharmaceuticals. Marianne has already been accepted and has every intention of taking maximum advantage of her studies so that one day she will be able to say that her work has an influence on people’s health.

”With all my various commitments, I frequently have to pass up a night’s sleep in order to make sure everything is perfect and ready before the deadline. I believe that when you get involved in a project, you have to give it your all and you mustn’t give up. And this is what I plan to do throughout my life,” Marianne concludes.

Affectionately nicknamed “the hyperactive artist” by her colleagues, Isabelle Soucy is the type of teacher who sees getting involved in the education of teenagers not as a simple work task, but rather as a privilege. The visual arts teacher at Transcontinental high school in Pohénégamook has a passion for young people, their energy and all their contradictions and seizes every opportunity to offer them a living environment that is at once enjoyable and formative. The school committee on health, the cultural committee, social and educational activities, Isabelle Soucy’s fellow teachers would say that she is present everywhere. According to her however, she is simply part of the wonderful world of teaching.

Affectionately nicknamed “the hyperactive artist” by her colleagues, Isabelle Soucy is the type of teacher who sees getting involved in the education of teenagers not as a simple work task, but rather as a privilege. The visual arts teacher at Transcontinental high school in Pohénégamook has a passion for young people, their energy and all their contradictions and seizes every opportunity to offer them a living environment that is at once enjoyable and formative.

The school committee on health, the cultural committee, social and educational activities, Isabelle Soucy’s fellow teachers would say that she is present everywhere. According to her however, she is simply part of the wonderful world of teaching. Deeply inspired by her parents who were both teachers, Isabelle enjoys recalling every moment spent at the dinner table listening to her parents talk about the events of the day, the little tips they gave to students, how they intervened and even the reprimands they had to give. But what she remembers most of all are the ties between her parents and their students.

“I realized just how important the little gestures my parents had made were when, one day when we were downtown, a woman came up to my mother and thanked her for the few minutes of her time she had given her on a day when she felt she had hit rock bottom. My mother had made a difference in the life of a woman during a time of need when she had been contemplating suicide. I came to understand the meaning of the power of commitment.”

As Isabelle so aptly explains it, commitment has become a way of thinking for her that compels her to act while taking into consideration the impact of her actions. Her involvement with the school committee on health perfectly illustrates this philosophy. Concerned about the diet and physical fitness of young people, with the help of a few students Isabelle put a lot of effort into converting the school’s former coop into a small student café that is caffeine-free and sells healthy food. She then decided to offer, free of charge and as a volunteer, workout and tae-boxing sessions after school.

At Transcontinental high school, the principle advocated by the staff is to “enable students to set themselves apart.” In this small, secluded region, school often becomes one of the only means of opening up to the world and this is why the teacher is constantly organizing and participating in activities and outings. Other fine examples are her involvement in the Artistes activity, as well as exhibitions and shows staged at the school, her contribution to a reading contest and the famous snow sculpture outing that she set up as part of the school’s winter carnival. And then there’s the mini linguistic trip to Fredericton that allows Secondary 2 students to discover, often for the first time in their life, an English-speaking environment. For Isabelle, anything goes when the time comes to help students to discover and enjoy.

“When you meet Isabelle, you quickly realize that she is bursting with energy and that her mind is forever brimming with ideas,” points out school principal Alain Pelletier.

And school is not the only place “the hyperactive artist” showcases her dynamism. Her community can also count on her. Among other things, she took part in a project for transforming the yard of an elementary school, works with the Pohénégamook flower committee and is a member of the organizing committee in charge of welcoming an artist appearing on the La petite seduction television show.

Isabelle Soucy just can’t relinquish her dedication to getting projects off the ground and to helping others. She is tied to her great strength of character that nourishes her need to pass on this same desire to the young people she sees almost every day and feel the satisfaction of a job well done.

“I believe that in order to be happy when you’re a teenager, you have to make sure you have plenty of support around you and this is what I try to do with my students. I am part of the teaching world and working with teenagers keeps me young and alive. I get a lot out of them and I hope to give them just as much in return,” she states quite simply.

Teenagers have to make some difficult choices and opting for one career rather than another is most certainly one of the hardest on the list. Aware that young people need the proper tools when it comes to choosing their future, Marie-Josée Sauvé, the guidance counsellor at Polyvalente de St-Jérôme, is always concocting new schemes to help special needs students discover what really makes them tick. Visits and workshops at skilled trade schools, horticultural projects, the creation of necklaces, soap and paper, every idea is worthwhile as long as it helps in achieving the ultimate goal of encouraging young people to find their path.

Teenagers have to make some difficult choices and opting for one career rather than another is most certainly one of the hardest on the list. Aware that young people need the proper tools when it comes to choosing their future, Marie-Josée Sauvé, the guidance counsellor at Polyvalente de St-Jérôme, is always concocting new schemes to help special needs students discover what really makes them tick. Visits and workshops at skilled trade schools, horticultural projects, the creation of necklaces, soap and paper, every idea is worthwhile as long as it helps in achieving the ultimate goal of encouraging young people to find their path.

A welcome contrast to the image of the self-effacing and dull guidance counsellor that may still haunt the memories of our teenage years, what is striking about Marie-Josée Sauvé is her enthusiasm. This year, seeking to stimulate and arouse the interest of young people, she decided to focus more on the special needs students at the school. “Most of these students will have to make a career choice in vocational training. Unfortunately, the time spent in class is centred on learning the subject matter and they rarely have the opportunity to discover the trades that are open to them or to develop their manual skills,” she explains.

The guidance counsellor therefore began by trying to win over the teaching staff and school administration to her cause and then got down to work, developing various project scenarios and above all making sure she made good use of her network of contacts. Armed with conviction and strong persuasion skills, she went around the community in search of partners so as to obtain material that could be used for teaching. Marie-Josée Sauvé quickly managed to get her hands on ceramics, cork, newspaper, tissue paper, flowerpots, seeds, soil and other useful materials donated by various companies and even the municipal council.

Different projects then began to take shape. There was one where students grew herbs and learned everything you need to know about gardening, taking care of all the production stages and even preparing the seeds themselves. And then there was the mosaic project that enabled students to develop their manual skills while learning how to create objects using ceramics and of course the artisanal paper-making project.

The guidance counsellor also made a point of organizing a number of educational visits that allowed students to not only tour vocational schools but also experiment with various aspects of the trades. For example, the students visited a hotel management school where they were given the chance to use the facilities to prepare a meal themselves that they then had for lunch. Same case scenario when they went to an agricultural training centre where they took cuttings and learned about the different equipment used in farming.

“Marie-Josée always focuses on the students. She has turned her profession into a tool that enables her to interact with students in a much broader manner than just helping them choose a career. She enables them to experience as much as possible first-hand so that they are better informed and can make enlightened choices,” asserts educational counsellor Catherine L’Abbé.

Marie-Josée Sauvé’s mind is brimming with ideas for many other projects. She would like to be able to allow students to work with wood, making CD racks, plant holders and even cases for speakers. And her students in fact have told her that they would like to discover new things next year, without however giving up their favourite activities like making soap and necklaces. What’s more, the counsellor hopes to set up a kind of school shop where the articles made during these projects could be sold.

“The projects stimulate our young people and make them aware of their responsibilities in terms of their future. They gain self-confidence and several have expressed their interest in certain trades. It is very gratifying to see that all of this has a positive influence on them,” she is happy to admit.

In order to agree to take part in training sessions, learn another language and raise close to $30,000 to fund a humanitarian trip, and this for a period of a year and a half, you have to firmly believe in the positive impact of your actions. It is unquestionably this strong conviction that guided the efforts of the 13 students at Centre éducatif St-Aubin who participated in the Solidarité Baie-St-Paul/Guatemala 2009 project. The students recently returned from their three-week mission in Guatemala with the feeling of a job well done but more importantly with a desire to share their experience and encourage other people, young and old alike, to also do their part in building a more equitable society.

In order to agree to take part in training sessions, learn another language and raise close to $30,000 to fund a humanitarian trip, and this for a period of a year and a half, you have to firmly believe in the positive impact of your actions. It is unquestionably this strong conviction that guided the efforts of the 13 students at Centre éducatif St-Aubin who participated in the Solidarité Baie-St-Paul/Guatemala 2009 project. The students recently returned from their three-week mission in Guatemala with the feeling of a job well done but more importantly with a desire to share their experience and encourage other people, young and old alike, to also do their part in building a more equitable society.

“When you go to a small school, there is less cultural diversity than at schools in big cities and it is therefore important to find rallying projects that give young people the chance to open up to the world and to different cultures and above all allow them to take part in an experience in mutual aid,” asserts Annie Lavoie, one of the accompanying teachers and the person in charge of the project.

This was the second time a group of students from Centre éducatif St-Aubin had taken part in a trip such as this to Guatemala. The 2007 experience was so enriching that it was basically out of the question not to offer it again. In the course of the year and a half it took to prepare, the student participants had many opportunities to raise awareness in their community about what they were going to do as they helped bag groceries at a supermarket, organized a garage sale and prepared a dinner featuring international dishes. All the actions carried out were to lead them towards a reality that they barely knew even existed.

“We were well prepared, informed and trained but when you get off the plane and set off on the road, you quickly realize to what extent you’re in unknown territory. It went far beyond what we could ever have imagined,” recounts Secondary 4 student Kim Boucher-Morin.

A change of scenery is probably not a strong enough expression to describe the cultural and social shock the students experienced when they arrived in Guatemala. Disoriented is not doubt more appropriate, especially when they were dropped off directly at an orphanage where they were to spend their first night. “The following morning, there were children everywhere. They wanted to look at us and touch us and above all they wanted to attract our attention. We played with them and even watched a movie with them in the evening. It was a truly heart-warming atmosphere,” Kim confides.

Their encounter with these endearing orphans in Miguel-Magone was intended as a simple prelude to what lay ahead. The students and two accompanying teachers hit the road once again and, after a five-hour drive into the very heart of the Guatemalan countryside, they stopped at a small village with 300 inhabitants where the Finca organic farm is located.

For the next two weeks, the young volunteers gave a helping hand, looking after the village children, repainting the school, working on the farm, doing masonry work and market gardening. The workdays were long, beginning at about 6:30 a.m. and ending around 4 p.m., but they built up the group’s spirit of mutual aid and strengthened the ties of friendship with the villagers. They also took part in cultural visits including one to the city of Flores and a discovery trip to the wonderful Mayan city of Tikal.

“It was a truly enriching experience and we are proud of the work we accomplished. As far as I’m concerned, I would have liked to have been able to do more. It gave me the desire to get involved in numerous other projects,” adds Kim, who already gives of her time to the Amnesty International group at her school.

Boosted by their experience, the group of students toured the classrooms upon their return to talk about their adventures. They even gave a presentation for the general public, which chronicled the highlights of their trip and provided spectators with information about everyday life in Guatemala.

“They returned with a sparkle in their eyes, a very open mind and a steadfast desire to play an active role in our society. They want to get more involved and to pass on this enthusiasm to others” insists Annie Lavoie.

When you regularly come across the homeless on the streets of Montréal, you end up forgetting their very existence and the harsh realities that they have to face. A dozen students at Collège de Montréal therefore decided they would no longer turn a blind eye but instead go out and witness at close range homelessness and those who live with it. Every two weeks, the members of Les sandwichs volantes project put together dozens of sandwiches, made coffee and prepared fruit and dessert and, following a set itinerary, went out to meet those who live on the streets to offer them something to ease their hunger all well as the care they need to ease their soul.

When you regularly come across the homeless on the streets of Montréal, you end up forgetting their very existence and the harsh realities that they have to face. A dozen students at Collège de Montréal therefore decided they would no longer turn a blind eye but instead go out and witness at close range homelessness and those who live with it. Every two weeks, the members of Les sandwichs volants project put together dozens of sandwiches, made coffee and prepared fruit and dessert and, following a set itinerary, went out to meet those who live on the streets to offer them something to ease their hunger all well as the care they need to ease their soul.

“The first time we went out to meet the homeless, we surprised many people. Among other things, I recall a woman who looked at me really funny, as though she didn’t quite believe what had hit her. We brightened up her day that time,” recounts Laurianne Charbonneau, one of the leaders of the project.

Though organized in its entirety by Secondary 5 students, the project nonetheless owes its existence to Guy Bérubé, pastoral counsellor and the person in charge of community involvement at Collège de Montréal. “The minute I suggested the idea, a dozen students signed up even though the basis of the project had not yet been completely determined,” he explains.

To provide support for the young people, Mr. Bérubé appealed to one of the school’s former students Marion Dulude, who is very involved in community support, and she was able to pass on her passion and knowledge to the young volunteers. “Marion quickly helped these students take on a leadership role and one after another they then assumed the responsibilities of the activity,” he points out.

But before starting to tour the streets, the group of students first took part in various training workshops, meetings and preliminary activities, and even went so far as to team up for three weeks with a group of young adults who also distribute food to the homeless. Then in January, the student members of Les sandwichs volants project launched their own operations and even established partnerships with local shops so as to obtain all they needed to prepare really nice meals.

Les sandwichs volantes has the merit of actually going out and meeting the homeless and this is not always the case with support organizations. By doing so, they are able to not only offer food, but can also establish privileged ties with the people they work with, taking the time to talk and listen to them, and thus help bring down the barriers of prejudice that so very often surround the homeless.

“You can sense that some of the people we meet are very lonely,” Laurianne explains. “There was a man once who just couldn’t stop talking to us. And I met another who told us that he never would have believed that one day he’d end up on the streets. It’s sad.”

Following a set itinerary covering three specific areas of the city, the visits from the different groups of students are now much awaited and appreciated. And when there are a few sandwiches left over, they quickly find takers. “They recognize us and greet us with a smile. Even when I just happen to be passing by, some of them recognize me, say hello and ask when I’ll be coming back with the sandwiches.”

Although it has only just got off the ground, the project is already making an impact. Young people at other schools have shown an interest in the project and would like to actively take part. What’s more, at Collège de Montréal, the graduating students have made a point of raising awareness among the Secondary 4 students who will be taking their place next year, asking them to take the helm and even improve and strengthen the project.

“Les sandwichs volants project is simple and touching. It brings a welcome and soothing breath of fresh air. When a homeless person looks you in the eye and sincerely thanks you, it makes all the hours spent preparing the project feel worthwhile,” Laurianne says in conclusion.

“I don’t like school because I find it hard but I have turned it into a personal challenge”. Where many young people would have simply given up, Camille Horth, a Secondary 5 student at the Polyvalente de Paspébiac, decided to overcome the obstacles and fight to succeed. No easy task for someone for whom even kindergarten was hard-going. Diagnosed with an attention deficit when she was in Grade 2, combined with her short-term memory problem, Camille, thanks to her strength of character and the support of family and friends, persevered and even accomplished a tour de force by never repeating a year.

I don’t like school because I find it hard but I have turned it into a personal challenge”. Where many young people would have simply given up, Camille Horth, a Secondary 5 student at the Polyvalente de Paspébiac, decided to overcome the obstacles and fight to succeed. No easy task for someone for whom even kindergarten was hard-going. Diagnosed with an attention deficit when she was in Grade 2, combined with her short-term memory problem, Camille, thanks to her strength of character and the support of family and friends, persevered and even accomplished a tour de force by never repeating a year.

“It’s simple, I already wanted to quit school when I was only in Grade 3,” the finalist in the Persevering Student category calmly asserts. “But thanks to my mom, my grandmother and my friends, I stuck it out and continued to move forward.”

After having succeeded, through perseverance and enormous effort, in completing elementary school, Camille was about to face an even bigger challenge: high school. Luckily for her, the school she was to attend offered a specialized arts concentration program and therefore had all it took to motivate someone with a true passion for the performing arts. Perhaps high school wouldn’t be that bad after all!

“She’s a go-getter,” theatre teacher Nancy Gagnon is quick to point out when describing Camille. “She always works very hard, even more than everyone else, and she always manages to come through. For example, last year she failed both history and science. She therefore decided to retake the courses this year, in addition to all her Secondary 5 classes, and she didn’t even give up any of her extracurricular activities. What’s terrific is that she succeeded!”

Camille spends more than her fair share of time in homework remediation, has a private tutor in mathematics and is accustomed to spending long hours on her homework on weekday evenings as well as on weekends yet stills finds time to take part in all kinds of activities. Among other things, last year she sat on the student council, something that allowed her to build her self-confidence, and this year she is a member of the organizing committee for the graduation party. What’s more, the school administration was very impressed with Camille’s progress and asked her to talk before the Secondary 1 students to raise awareness about academic success, perseverance and respect. “When she gave her presentation, the teaching staff were so moved they had tears in their eyes. Camille is quite simply open, honest and above all touching,” insists Nancy Gagnon.

Camille’s greatest achievement is without doubt the fact that she has succeeded in regaining control of her condition. She has never let her diagnosis or the mockery of others caused by her hesitations or trouble concentrating get her down. She has built an armour that she doesn’t allow anyone to penetrate. Even when she has to ask a question, regardless of how simple it is, Camille has never stopped herself from doing so and just ignores the reactions from those around her. This attitude is much to her credit and bears witness to her great strength of character. “I don’t care if people laugh at me. The things I do, I do them for myself, not for them. My real friends help me and listen to me. They have really been of help.”

As strange as it may seem, Camille’s short-term memory problems have never prevented her from giving great performances when she takes to the stage. For her, acting is easy. She gets right into the role of the characters she portrays and simply lets herself go. “My dream is to become an actress,” she asserts.

While waiting to fulfil this dream, Camille is about to bring another dream to life, that of graduating from high school. College awaits her next year and she will tackle this new challenge thanks to a special integration program that will allow her to get a taste of various fields and find the most appropriate line of work.

“If by chance I don’t become an actress, then I’ll just choose another profession, a profession I’ll enjoy and that will enable me to take my rightful place. It’s not complicated, I’m persistent and I want to succeed,” she concludes with a huge smile.

If you look at the recent achievements of Myriam Tousignant, a Secondary 5 student at De la Rive high school in Lavaltrie, you would be convinced that she is a popular and model student. And this in fact is true. Last year Myriam was on the student council and a member of the organizing committee for the gala of excellence, the school’s Walt Disney trip committee and even the Lavaltrie snow festival committee. She has contagious energy, is brimming with enthusiasm and her academic grades are impressive. T