Selfless, dedicated, leaders, these were all words used to describe six talented students Monday during the Rotary Club of North Bay’s 9th annual Great Students luncheon.
Selfless, dedicated, leaders, these were all words used to describe six talented students Monday during the Rotary Club of North Bay’s 9th annual Great Students luncheon.
The club's motto is ‘Service Above Self’ and understanding that students play a significant role in the health of the community and the future of a community each year the Vocational Service Committee recognises area students who best exemplify the motto.
This year six students in grade 10 and 11 stood head and shoulders about the rest and were nominated for the award by their schools, they are:
•. Lisa Bell ................St. Joseph Scollard Hall
•. Jerri Clout...............West Ferris S.S.
•. Sara Crawford.............ESC Algonquin S.S.
•. Jeremy Kirk...............Widdifield S.S.
•. Lauren Oullette...........Chippewa S.S.
•. Kurt Tempelmans Plat..... Ecole secondaire publique Odyssee
Rotary member Dave Saad noted during the presentation that hearing the accomplishments of the six students in such a short time made him feel inadequate.
"Former Mayor Stan Lawlor used to say lead, follow or get out of the way," he tells the students.
"You are leaders ... you stand up and you stand out."
"You are doing things that others don't want to do or won't take the time to do."
Each student received a certificate of recognition and a $100 cheque as well as a plaque to hang at their school.
Bio's submitted for of Students by their schools:
Jerri CloutInterests include: studying piano, sports such as baseball, weightlifting, cross country running, canoeing and wilderness camping. Jerri has an interest in acting and has been a part of her school’s production of Grease, the Theater Guilds Talking to Terrorists and has had two small parts in short movies, Benchmarks and Into the Sunset.
Academic: Jerri is a strong student who excels in Science and Mathematics. In 2005, as the first junior student from our area she attended the 2005 Canada Wide Science Fair in Vancouver, B.C. In 2006, Jerri participated in the GAUSS/University of Waterloo Mathematics Competition and earned first-place in her region. She is currently a student of the Science and Technology wireless program at West Ferris Secondary School and in the past has also competed at the International level in Atlanta with the Near North Robotics team.
Community Interests: Jerri has been Co-Chair of the inaugural RUN/WALK for PATRICK for the past 3 years, along with Mayor Vic Fedeli. Jerri participated in many media events and helped to raise over $63,000 for AIDS awareness and education. Since that time Jerri helped design her own pamphlet on HIV and AIDS awareness featuring many people from the community which was distributed to all area schools.
She is the founder and current chairperson of Youth4Youth, a 100% youth driven AIDS Awareness organization. The grouped launched a website which has had hits from all over the country.
www.youth4youth.net
She attended the 2006 World AIDS Conference in Toronto and the 2008 World AIDS Conference in Mexico City, by the AIDS Bureau at the request of the Minister of Health.
Jerri has strong communications skills and is eager to engage others to promote AIDS education and awareness in her community and beyond. Jerri was asked to give the keynote address at the North Bay and Area AIDS Committee and Patrick4lifes’s annual meetings, along with at the Jane Goodall Roots and Shoots Conference at Science North in Sudbury, in 2007 and 2008, in English and in French. Jerri welcomed girls and woman from around the world at the World AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006, she has been asked to help facilitate focus groups for an AIDS research project at the University of Toronto, and has spoken in many area schools and service clubs.
Accomplishments:
• Recipient of Youth In Motions Top 20 Under 20 in Canada, 2008.
• Recipient of the Chamber of Commerce Student of the year, nominated by Monique Smith, 2008
• Honours in Grade 8 Piano, with the Royal Conservatory of Music, 2008
• Attendance at the Canada Wide Science Fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, 2005
She participates in the annual relay for life cancer walk and has donated time to the MS society as well as over three hundred hours to Patrick4life and Youth4Youth. Jerri enjoys spending time with family and friends and is always looking for her next new adventure. That new adventure will be the Encounter With Canada Program with Historia Canada at the Terry Fox Center this March.
Click Here to see the rest of the submissions the club received for the students.
