Léola Muntu-Caron
Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière

“Giving of one’s time is a passion! And even if my friends sometimes think my schedule resembles that of a CEO, it suits me perfectly.” With her energetic voice, passionate views and remarkable candidness, Léola Muntu-Caron, a Secondary 5 student at Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, talks with bursting enthusiasm about her projects, her involvement and the committees she’s on. It’s a surprising contrast to the young girl of only a few years ago who had hardly any friends, kept to herself and was extremely shy. “One day, when I was 12 years old and we’d just moved to the area, my parents gave me a word of advice. They said “Léola, don’t keep to yourself. Go towards others because other people won’t come towards you.” I thought about it and decided to follow their advice. I’ve changed a lot since then and I’ve participated in loads of projects,” Léola recounts with a smile. In the interim, Léola’s commitment has increased at a virtually exponential rate. Her long list of endeavours includes, among other things, the student government, where this year she assumes the role of prime minister, the Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière’s very own Leader program, in which she is socially involved, and the OAmbassadors program, for which she organises fund-raising activities to help a small community in Kenya. And then there’s Paramundo, a humanitarian aid project that will enable her to head to an eastern region of the Dominican Republic to lend a hand at an orphanage for two weeks in March 2010. “I can’t say I think that we will make that much of a difference,” she says philosophically. “I think instead that it is the people there who will give us a lot in return in terms of greater openness and a better understanding of the world’s inequalities. We will then be able to go out and share our experience and make others aware of these realities.” Recognised for her conscientiousness, maturity and strong sense of responsibility, Léola also tutors students experiencing various academic difficulties. Last year, she helped a girl in Secondary 2 in all her school subjects, while at the same time showing her how to adopt sound work methods – and the student even received an award for her academic progress and perseverance. “I have no trouble at school and I like to help out. It’s also very rewarding to see how the people I help really make progress,” she admits, adding that this year she is assisting a boy in Secondary 4. With her firm belief that young people must take their rightful place in the community and can indeed contribute to social progress, Léola joined the Kamouraska region’s youth round table. With the mandate of promoting concerted citizen action and fostering a sense of belonging in the region, the organization hopes to make the area more dynamic and organizes various social activities, such as the festive fair held in September 2009 that brought together 250 people and for which Léola worked very hard. Her participation in Québec’s youth parliament in February 2009 and her involvement with the Youth Advisory Committee of the SEVEC program, which enables young people to discover Canada thanks to exchange trips, also bears witness to Léola’s strong desire to actively help bring about change. It comes as no surprise therefore that she is contemplating a career in international law or politics. In addition to a multitude of other undertakings, such as the yearbook committee, emceeing the Dômes evening and the municipal library, Léola is also an accomplished sportswoman who has tried her hand at practically every sport at her school: basketball, volleyball, football, track and field and even boxing. “By stepping out of my comfort zone, putting myself at risk and accepting new challenges, I have no choice but to surpass myself and I love it.” Léola has no interest in spending her days in front of the computer or chatting on Facebook. There are so many better things to do and discover outside the house. “It’s simple! If the truth be told, when you’re a teenager you’re looking to find yourself and my involvement has enabled me to figure out what I like and what I don’t like. Getting involved has helped me to discover who I really am and I think that’s the best way to go about it,” she says, as if challenging other young people to get involved.

Léola Muntu-Caron
Collège de Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière