Meriel Reed is a 17 year-old student at H.B. Beal Secondary School in London. She suffers from a severe medical phobia and has had to learn how to cope with the debilitating fear that she undergoes with every medical experience. Meriel loves to sing and act and has performed on stage for productions at the Palace Theatre [...]
Topic: “A Life Behind the Curtain” For Nora Polley, 2019 marks 55 seasons with the Stratford Festival. Her father, grandfather and four siblings have all worked at the theatre over the years. A stage manager from 1969 to 2009, Nora now works part-time in the Stratford Festival Archives. She has an insider’s view of how [...]
Amal is a grade 12 student at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School. She is passionate about reducing elderly suffering and has won awards for coming up with various solutions that she presented at regional and national competitions. Recently, she has received awards from the Thames Valley Science and Engineering Fair, the Sanofi Biogenius Competition and [...]
Topic: “Life as Vice Regal Consort.” Sharon Johnston began her working career in Kingston, Ontario, as a psychiatric occupational therapist with young adults. In 1966, Mrs. Johnston completed her studies in physical and occupational therapy at the University of Toronto. Later, she completed a Bachelor of Science at the University of Western Ontario, a Master [...]
Topic: “Extraordinary Women, Extraordinary Times” The road to uncovering the life and death of an uncle she never knew, killed when his ship was torpedoed off the coast of France in 1944, led Sherry to write her first non-fiction book, “All the Ship’s Men: HMCS Athabaskan’s Untold Stories”. After interviewing veterans and their families, she [...]
Sydney Wakelin, 17 years old, attends Oakridge S.S. She has been a member of the Byron Believers for 9 years and recently fulfilled a surgical co-op placement at Victoria Hospital. She also worked as a literary facilitator working one on one with 20 children who struggled to read and she assisted in running community programs [...]
Topic: “A Life At Sea” Lillian Kluka grew up on a farm near Blenheim, Ontario. With no marine background, she never expected to spend her working life at sea. A week after finishing high school, she boarded her first cargo vessel and it was love at first sight. She attended Georgian College of Applied Arts [...]
The Women’s Canadian Club, London first established our yearly Emerging Leaders Award for Grade 10 and 11 students in 2015. We are pleased to offer this award to four students whose activities demonstrate leadership in both school and community. The students are chosen by the Civic section of the Student Services Dept. of their respective [...]
Topic: “Hill 70 Memorial Project” Susan Everett is a lifelong educator who began her career as a classroom teacher teaching young adolescents in Northern Ontario. After several years of teaching and leading teacher education seminars, she moved into administrative roles, including vice-principal and principal. Susan worked as a superintendent with the Ministry of Education and [...]
Nicholas Busch has completed a Bachelor of Music Honors in Performance degree from Western University while studying with Tina Yanchus and is currently working on his Masters of Music degree specializing in Collaborative Piano with Dr. John Hess. He has been working as a freelance pianist, band director and accompanist in the Windsor-London area for [...]