Patrick Chan [陳偉群]
The Justin Poy Agency 15th Anniversary Award
Two-time reigning World Champion, 5-time reigning Canadian Men’s Champion, reigning and 3-time Grand Prix Champion, and Guinness World Record holder are among the impressive accomplishments of figure skater Patrick Chan. He has also received the Lou Marsh Trophy as the Canadian Athlete of the Year, Sportsnet Canadian Athlete of the Year, Lou Conacher Award as the Canadian Male Athlete of the Year, Ontario Male Athlete of the Year, and Asian of the Year in Arts and Sports, as well as many other awards, too numerous to name. Patrick is an ambassador, mentor, and spokesperson for organizations like the Canadian Olympic Committee, Ronald McDonald House Charities, OtherHalf, ThinkFirst, Children’s Aid Foundation, and Right to Play Canada. A graduate of Ecole Secondaire Etienne-Brule in Toronto, he is a first-year student at Colorado College, Colorado Springs.
Honoured in 2007 with the 10th anniversary commemorative Jean Lumb Award, 21-year-old Patrick is recognized with the 15th anniversary award for his continuing achievements in athleticism and artistry.
Chao Ying Qin [秦超穎]
York Mills C.I., Toronto
Lue Family Community Services Award
When Chao Ying arrived from China in 2009, her feelings of inadequacies in English and self esteem became the driving force to her commitments in school and the community. In her second year, she founded a Newcomers’ Club and encouraged others to become leaders. She was the Chapter President of Best Buddies Canada that raises awareness for developmentally disabled students. Because of her efforts, the school’s Our Caring and Safe Schools Committee organizes school assemblies to address harassment and bullying. In addition to tutoring students in chemistry and math, she was active on the Student Council, Environmental Council, Art Council, and Courtyard Committee which raised over $25,000 to tackle the greening of the school environment. She helped her school become a gold-certified Eco School for its energy conservation and waste minimization. Outside of school, Chao Ying has volunteered at Carefree Lodge, Oriole Community Centre, North York General Hospital, her church’s Sunday school, and the Sunnybrook Park Clean-up. Her principal noted her distinguished academic work, passionate leadership, and outstanding personal qualities.
Chao Yin is studying Engineering Science at the University of Toronto.
Michelle Jia [賈雪兒]
Markham District H.S., Markham
University of Toronto Scarborough Academics Award
Michelle’s 20-year veteran music teacher, conductor, and staff advisor wrote that Michelle was probably the most deserving student for whom he had ever prepared a reference letter. She placed first in her classes in English, French, and Latin and by grade eleven she had the highest overall academic average in her grade of more than 300 students. She was enrolled in the Advanced Program (AP) and her unweighted average for all grade 12 courses was 97.9 with top marks and awards for Latin, French, AP Physics, AP Calculus, Music and Enriched English. She won the Director’s Achievement Award for the Highest Academic Average in 2011 for the entire York Region District School Board of over thirty high schools. During this past year, she was a member of two wind orchestras, two choirs, a flute quartet, Music Council Executive, Classics Executive, Debate Team, and editor-in-chief for the school’s literary magazine. She has competed in two French speech competitions, a national Latin translation competition, Science Olympics, three international poetry contests, and National Musicfest Canada. One of the highlights of her life must have been when she conducted
her own choral composition “Elegia Venatoris” for an audience of over 500 at the Markham Theatre.
Michelle is studying Arts and Humanities at Stanford University.
Louis Wong [黃明傑]
Northview Heights S.S., Toronto
Murphy & Chung Chartered Accountants Athletics Award
Louis transferred to the Academic Program for Gifted Athletes (APGA) at Northview Heights S.S. from the International Baccalaureate program at Victoria Park C.I. to devote more time to his table tennis career. His goal to reach the 2012 London Olympics required 7 days and 50 hours of rigorous training every week during the school year. He has competed and trained in Canada and internationally in Germany, Bahrain, Ecuador, China, and the United States. He placed 6th in the 2012 Canadian Olympic Trials and top 16 in the World Junior Table Tennis Championships in 2011. He is a Program Prospect Member, Canadian Olympic Team 2016, and 2010-2012 Canadian Senior National Team Member. In spite of his training and competition schedule, he has been on the Northview honour roll each semester. The Director of APGA states that “Louis has earned the admiration and respect of the school staff and students.”
Louis is studying Honours Mathematics and Business Administration, a double degree program at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Jimmy Yiu Chun Chan [陳堯進]
Notre Dame Catholic S.S., Brampton
Downtown Subaru Innovation Award
In Grade 10, Jimmy established the Environmental Council and expanded it into the greater community. Along with two fellow students, he initiated the “Kill Your Bill Challenge,” a district-wide competition for high schools in both the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District and Peel District School Boards to reduce energy consumption. Although they were initially not taken seriously with calls unanswered and emails ignored, they persevered and secured sponsorships as well as Dr. David Suzuki to preside over the program’s launch at the annual EcoBuzz Conference. After three years, the competition is up and running with the support of hundreds of students across the Peel Region. In the words of one of his teachers, “Jimmy is as passionate as I have seen anyone be about issues such as the environment, social justice and youth leadership…Jimmy has a personality which attracts the support and interest of his colleagues and he uses this to help share his value with others.” Besides being president of the Notre Dame Environmental Club, he was Video Director, Sea Turtle Conservation in Costa Rica, and executive member, Executive Peel Environmental Youth Alliance.
Jimmy is enrolled at the Schulich School of Business, York University.
Nathan Kong [江卓森]
Upper Canada College, Toronto
Kotcheff Family Arts Award
Nathan began studying piano performance at the age of five and has won numerous awards and scholarships at national and local music competitions, such as first prize at both the Senior and Intermediate Trophy Finals at the Kiwanis Music Festival of Greater Toronto; first prizes at the 2006, 2008, and 2011 Canadian Music Competitions (CMC), second prize at the 2010 Third Canadian Chopin Competition, and first prize at the First Toronto Sinfonietta Concerto Competition. In 2008, at the ripe age of 14, Nathan was the featured concerto soloist at the CMC Finals Gala in Quebec City for the 50th anniversary of the CMC and the 400th anniversary of the City of Quebec. He has also appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, given benefit concerts, and performed at local Toronto events, such as the Chopin Gala Concert at Koerner Hall and the CMC gala concerts at the Glenn Gould Studio. His keyboard artistry and virtuosity have been described as powerful and explosive while at times so very soft and tender. In addition to these achievements, he is an outstanding mathematician, placing in the top percentile in many math competitions, and competitive swimmer with impressive placements in numerous championship events. He graduated with a 95.2% average with the International Baccalaureate and Ontario Secondary School Diplomas.
Nathan is studying Engineering Science at the University of Toronto.