Karen Chan
St. Joseph’s Morrow Park High School
Toronto Mandarin Lions Club Academic Award
When Karen immigrated to Canada as an eight year old, she had to enroll in ESL classes. Within a short time, she not only mastered English but also excelled in French with three perfect marks and in Chinese for which she won best student award 2003. Mathematics and sciences, however, are her passion.
Karen participates in enrichment courses such as Hands-On Pathology and Cancer Biology at Queen’s University and Mini-Med School at the University of Toronto. She was the Chairperson of the Economic and Social Committee at the Catholic Schools United Nations Assembly. At the Sci-Tech Fairs 2004, she represented her school. She has maintained a 90%+ average throughout high school and scored in the 92 percentile for the practice SAT exam.
Karen has won numerous awards, including the Certificate of Distinction, Gauss Math Contest and Certificate of Outstanding Achievement, Pascal Cayley Mathematics, University of Waterloo. Karen is currently enrolled in the Science School, Ontario Science Centre, as one of 28 selected students acquiring University Preparation science credits.
Olivia Chiu
Sir John A. MacDonald C.I.
Murphy & Chung Chartered Accountants Athletic Award
Conquering personal goals and prevailing in championships have carried Olivia to Olympic heights. Among her athletic achievements are Outstanding Female Athlete of the Graduating Class Award, 13th place in the Metropolitan Track and Field competition, Best Running Back and Most Valuable Player on Offence Award, Junior and Senior Letter and Physical and Health Education Awards. By the end of high school, she played six sports on twelve teams.
The challenge that Olivia faces as an elite athlete is her height, considerably shorter than traditionally successful competitors. She overcame this to excel in sports like basketball, cross-country, field hockey and track. She was the top scorer in the Varsity Girls Field Hockey team that won the regional Championship.
Olivia is currently enrolled in Kinesiology and Health Science, York University.
Mitchell Wong
University of Toronto Schools
Toronto Elegant Lions Club Arts Award
Mitchell’s lifelong passion is expressed through his alto saxophone. He recently completed Grade 8 Saxophone at the Royal Conservatory of Music where he achieved First Class Honours for Grades 6, 4 and 2 Sax as well as the Silver Medal for the highest mark in Ontario.
At his high school, he is the lead tenor saxophone player for the senior stage band and elite jazz ensemble, conducts jazz improvisational workshops for aspiring musicians and is the producer and engineer of his school’s annual musical compilation CD. His music grade is 98%.
Beyond school, he plays in Virtuoso, a jazz quartet that won a gold medal in GTA Musicfest 2004 to advance the band to a national competition in Montreal. His second band is a seven-piece funk/hip-hop ensemble that has showcased the Beaches Jazz Festival, the Downtown Toronto Jazz Festival and many other venues. Managed by Zack Werner, Canadian Idol judge,Down with Webster has been featured in Now Magazine, Toronto Star and Metro News.
Mitchell is currently enrolled in Grade 12 at UTS.
Nicholas Hwang
St. Michael’s Choir School
TD Canada Trust Community Services Award
Through volunteerism, Nicholas has developed genuine care for the well-being of others and embraced helping others without reciprocity. Providing comfort to patients and family at the Emergency Department, Toronto Western Hospital, delivering meals to geriatric patients at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital or socializing with developmentally delayed residents at Our Place for Community Hope were among the many volunteer activities in the community at large.
During his years at St. Michael’s Choir School, Nicholas gave generously of his time for extracurricular programs, organized countless school-related fundraising drives, tutored elementary students, performed in the string ensemble and sang in the choir at charity functions and seniors homes.
Nicholas was a top academic student throughout high school and graduated with a 92% average. Currently, he is enrolled in first year at the University of Birmingham Medical School, England.