THEY COME from big schools and small, from urban communities and rural areas.
Yet the five Nova Scotia high school students who received national Millennium Scholarships this year (worth $5,000 a year, renewable three times after that for a total of $20,000) have several things in common — they are brilliant students, active in their schools and communities, and are caring, considerate individuals in whose hands we older folk can feel comfortable leaving the future.
Just look at the accomplishments of Auyon Siddiq of Halifax West High School. With roots in Bangladesh, he’s adopted the academic ethic of his father and grandfather, both university professors. The top first-semester student in his class of 398, don’t bet against him being named winner of the Governor General’s Medal at this week’s graduation ceremony.
But Auyon is more than reading, writing and arithmetic. He was instrumental in starting an in-school World Involvement Committee that has raised funds for Red Cross tsunami relief efforts and to build day cares in Gambia so children can play safely while their parents work in the fields.
He was deputy student advisor to the Halifax regional school board in 2005-06, is a national-calibre high school debater, volunteers at the IWK Health Centre and at blood donor clinics, and is an accomplished classical violinist and rock guitarist.
Auyon is motivated and ambitious, ready to tackle an electrical engineering program at Dalhousie University.
Sometimes, he says, he sees a lack of ambition in other students, with maybe a couple of hundred of the 1,500 Halifax West students truly involved in everything.
“The potential (to have more students participating) is there but sometimes the ambition is lacking. I get great support at home. My folks are adamant about my getting an education but they recognize the importance of extracurricular activities. For that I’m grateful. Not all parents are as supportive.”
Sneak a peak at Joanna MacLeod of Richmond Academy in Louisdale, Cape Breton, with its 500 students. Joanna, from Red Island, about 45 minutes from her school (”If you blink, you’ll miss it,” she laughs) is the top student among 115 in the graduating class.
She’s involved in the Interact Club, a youth division of the Rotary Club that started last year. With Joanna’s initiative, a dozen students developed a Nepal exhibit as its first project.
“I attended a women’s rights conference at St. F.X. last year, took lots of pictures, met speakers from Nepal and our club attacked issues affecting women in Nepal — women’s rights, literacy, HIV/AIDS. In December, we presented a booth at a community event, raised about $300 and created awareness. The money went to a Nepalese radio program for youth and to an orphanage for children who lost parents to AIDS.”
Heading to Dalhousie to study science, then medicine, Joanna is looking at a career in obstetrics or ophthalmology. Although her plans seem to be firm, her career path could also lead her to environmental research. With an interest in the Sydney Tar Ponds cleanup, she has won awards for developing a feasible alternative method for eliminating chemical toxins.
“I showcased my work regarding bioremediating the tar ponds at a Canada-wide science fair in Quebec last May, didn’t receive a medal, but won the Stockholm Junior Water Prize and will compete with two other Canadian projects to represent Canada at an international competition in Sweden this summer,” she says.
She won a Top 20 Under 20 award, attended a five-day leadership summit in Toronto and was a national winner of the Toyota Earth Day Scholarship.
Then there’s Michael Beeler of Dartmouth, who attended Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific in Victoria, B.C. Without staff supervision, he organized the first inter-school debate on Vancouver Island last December, which raised money for disaster relief in Guatemala. Last summer, he volunteered at Dartmouth’s New Beginnings mental health clubhouse.
“I helped the members by breaking down the perceived barriers to friendship and interaction between the mentally healthy and those with mental illness,” he says.
Sheldon McCormick of Sydney Academy is senior class president, soccer and debate team captain, and started a school newspaper. He assembled 20 writers, editors and designers and produced an 18-page glossy magazine priced at $3. The monthly publication sold out its first run. He also organized a fundraiser for the Children’s Wish Foundation.
Last, but not least, is Coady Bustin, a Dalbrae Academy graduate in Inverness County. He has been in the scouting movement since age five, achieving his Chief Scout’s Award. He editor of a school literary magazine and a year ago, was Nova Scotia delegate to an Interchange on Canadian Studies gathering in Alberta.
Eight other Nova Scotians won provincial Millennium Scholarships and 21 earned local Millennium awards. Like those cited above, there are environmental and social activists, artists, student council presidents, youth mentors, athletes, and leaders in their schools and communities. Above all, they are working to make a difference in the world.
Yes, folks, we’re in good hands.
Be sure to read Bright Spot on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact Joel Jacobson via e-mail at jjacobson@herald.ca or fax at 426-1158, or phone 902-426-0128./Joel Jacobson - thechronicleherald.ca
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