Dave DesRosiers

Committed to promoting equal opportunities for all

“Sometimes, small ideas and big dreams can end up going a long way and lead to fine achievements.” This is a statement of fact that Dave DesRosiers, a psycho-education student at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, can now easily validate when he looks back at everything he has done since he decided to get involved back in high school.

A discreet student but an eternal optimist and grand idealist, Dave has always cherished hundreds of projects. And, with his deep concern for the development of his community, he realized at an early age that in order to be able to bring about change and improve the world he lives in, it is always better to be part of the solution rather than become preoccupied with the problem.

He began as a simple volunteer during a fund-raising campaign to help refugees in Nicaragua following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, but today is at the helm of an innovative project at UQTR, the PREP-Québec (Partage des ressources des Étudiants en psychoÉducation de Québec), a project that was established in the Québec City area.

This platform for pooling the projects, tools, knowledge and skills of students enrolled in the psycho-education program is a way of putting their research and the know-how they have acquired to a common use and at the service of the region’s community organizations. “The impressive work carried out by Mr. DesRosiers since spring 2008 and his rigour and sense of commitment have already produced highly promising results because already two collaborative projects have been launched in under a year,” Caroline Couture and JoÎl Tremblay, respectively director and professor of the psycho-education baccalaureate program, both agree.

For Dave, a healthy balance between mind, body and the environment is a concept that goes far beyond words. Though PREP-Québec allows students to pool community resources so as to offer services to people experiencing difficulties in the Québec City region, the setting up of ecological infrastructures at the Camp Trois-Saumons, a summer camp where he has worked for several years, is just as important.

The project, which he initiated voluntarily, has helped raise awareness among his co-workers, as well as among the numerous children and parents who visit the recreational tourist site, of the importance of the little eco-friendly gestures that everyone can make. Today, the summer camp has a comprehensive composting and recycling program and is seen as a paragon for eco-responsible camps in the province. “Dave is an extraordinary individual who, thanks to his actions, has helped improve Québec society. He is someone who is not afraid of giving of his own time,” states camp director Nicolas Clusiault.

The sound balance between committed and successful student, involved citizen, his achievements, the choices he’s made and the role he plans to play in tomorrow’s society is omnipresent in Dave’s everyday life. His humanitarian trip to Brazil last August where he worked with the Sao Goncalo community in the company of eight other young people also bears witness to his need to play an active part in bringing about change.

Whether it’s setting up or simply participating in projects, Dave gets steadfastly involved so as to help things progress. “Being a citizen is perhaps simply giving everyone the same chance to benefit from a common good and a respected life,” he surmises.

Dave DesRosiers