As a motivated and competitive baseball player, Aidan is a pitcher for the McMaster men’s baseball team, as well as for minor league team Hamilton Cardinals, an IBL affiliate. Outside of his athletic and academic pursuits, he works as a chiropractic assistant alongside a dedicated healthcare team to help patients with a variety of conditions using medical laser therapy. Additionally, Aidan is a rehabilitation facilitator with a non-profit called Head Injury Rehabilitation Ontario, where he assists clients living with acquired brain injuries.

Paolo is a passionate volunteer in his community. He regularly visits seniors in long-term care homes and leads an AI robotics research project focused on reducing seniors’ isolation and loneliness. He also coaches baseball for the Hamilton Challenger Baseball Association, a league that supports players with special needs. Paolo has played competitive soccer for several years and enjoys golf and basketball. He is the current and founding president of his school’s DECA Chapter.

Mbarouk’s passion for youth education and development runs deep, leading him to study Education, specifically Secondary Social Sciences, at Université de Montréal. His captivating poetry slams, which he has performed at school, on Télé-Québec, and in Théâtre Outremont, have featured on the social media page of Quebec’s former education minister. Mbarouk became a soccer camp manager at just 17 years of age and uses his lived experience to propose concrete solutions, namely to combat racism within the school system.

Chloe is studying systems design engineering at the University of Waterloo. She is a project lead for the student engineering design team Reality Labs, an organization that seeks to make education more immersive and reflect the 21st century, where she works on building an omni-directional treadmill. Outside of school, she helps organize events with Socratica, which celebrates maker/builder culture in Canada and provides a space where youth can flourish and co-work on their passions. Chloe is also an undergraduate research assistant with the U&AI Lab at UWaterloo, where she investigates AI ethics and policy. In her spare time, she enjoys reading books, playing sports, learning new calisthenics skills, and travelling.

Studying oceanography and political science at the University of British Columbia, Baljot is passionate about advocating for the rights of marginalized populations. He serves as an executive for the UBC Sikh Students Association and conducts independent research on the effects of heat waves on marine algal blooms. Baljot co-leads a youth initiative dedicated to promoting access to literary and cultural resources for incarcerated youth. He spent his Loran not-for-profit summer working at Yukon University’s Whitehorse Correctional Centre campus, supporting inmates’ educational journeys, on their road to rehabilitation and self-healing. He enjoys hiking, traveling, and good conversation in his free time.

Sophie is a social sciences student at the University of Toronto. She is a dancer and choreographer in a student-led dance company and loves to explore new dance styles. Sophie is a volunteer organizer for the Youth Climate Corps BC where as a team member, she collaborates with communities to address issues of climate change and youth unemployment. She volunteers across the University of Toronto campus to promote sustainability through outreach and interactive activities. Sophie enjoys exploring Toronto and immersing herself in its vibrant arts scene.

Ashley is pursuing a B.Sc. in sustainable agriculture and environment and is seeking out new, revolutionary approaches to improve our food systems from both food sovereignty scholars and community advocates alike. He completed his first year of undergrad in UBC’s Land One program, engaging with several experiential learning opportunities and finding a like-minded community of passionate students. His friends and family will never hear the end of what he has to say about seeds. Ashley spends his free time serving low-cost meals at a local food security café, playing Zelda, and exploring Vancouver with his friends.

Aidan is enrolled in a bachelor of kinesiology at Dalhousie University, hoping to work in the physiotherapy field in the future. A community-driven person, he spends a lot of his free time working on community projects. Aiden is also a youth policy advisor with the Nunatukavut Community Council, where he helps to engage local young people.

Mark is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Waterloo. He is part of Formula Nano’s student design team, developing a scanning tunneling microscope. Mark works as an applications engineering intern at Mosaic Manufacturing in Toronto, advancing new uses for automated 3D printing. Backed by Velocity Incubator’s Up Start program, Mark is also developing biomedical imaging systems.

Sally is enrolled in Nursing at McMaster University. As an active member of her community, she is a part of several initiatives, including one that connects seniors and students to create meaningful relationships, and one that raises money for the local Ronald McDonald House. Sally is known for spreading positivity wherever she goes, and no matter what she is doing, she will have a smile on her face.