The 27th Annual Jean Lumb Award Winners, 2024


2024 Jean Lumb Awards YouTube Videos

Olivia Li Ngan Sun [李爱红]

University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, ON
University of Toronto Scarborough Academic Award

Olivia began volunteering with Youreka Toronto as a High School Investigator alongside undergraduate students at the University of Toronto and other students across the GTA. Collaborating with three others, she worked diligently for 8 months before finally presenting her novel research on the role of differentially expressed genes linked to PTSD at the Regionals Symposium, placing first and advancing to Nationals. Olivia started an organization that currently runs chapters in 8 different Greater Toronto Area schools to provide research opportunities to those interested. She has received McMaster University’s $1000 Scientific Achievement Scholarship and the $2000 President Scholarship for Distinction and Academic Excellence from the University of Waterloo.

Olivia is excited to pursue her passion for neuroscience and health sciences at the University of Waterloo.

 

Bryan Zheng [郑海洋]

Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON
University of Toronto Scarborough Entrance Award

Bryan’s accomplishments in design are in the digital world, where he shares his art through YouTube. He runs a small channel called Robiz Slides where he posts animation artwork in a cross between a chibi and a comic art style. He has garnered over 2000 subscribers and 200,000 total views equivalent to over 1,600 hours of watch time with a consistent view count and audience retention in the YouTube shorts format. In the world of music, Bryan competed as the contrabass player of the Markville String Orchestra, an instrument he has played for 6 years. At the 2023 Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, he placed second, received a gold rating, then placed second and received a platinum rating this past year, resulting in being invited to perform provincially in OMFA.

Bryan is enrolled at the University of Toronto Scarborough in Co-op Life Sciences, Health Sciences.

 

Hiu Lam Sara Lo [勞曉琳]

St. Augustine Catholic High School, Markham, ON
University of Toronto Scarborough Entrance Award

Sara discovered her passion for chemistry alongside her training in swimming. She volunteers for a variety of endeavours, such as tutoring, delivering meals for seniors, and patient registration/translation for an acute care centre. Sara enrolled in a Japanese language school in order to develop her proficiency and immerse herself in the culture. As a self-starter who takes initiative, she is dedicated to serving her community by enriching her experiences while maintaining high academic achievements. She believes in approaching new experiences as an active agent in serving diverse populations. Sara aspires to be a holistic leader and role model who sets an example by connecting others to relevant resources in order to further their development.

Sara is enrolled at the University of Toronto Scarborough in Co-Op Life Sciences, Health Sciences.

 

Charlotte Yi-Chia Kiang [江宜家]

Ross Sheppard High School, Edmonton, AB
Chung-Kotcheff Family Arts Award

Charlotte has been playing piano since the age of 4, has been awarded the ARCT Associate Diploma at the age of 13, and an ARCT Performer’s Diploma at the age of 14, the highest credentials offered by the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada. She was a 1st place winner in the Steinway Piano Competition in 2018, a finalist in the Canadian Music Competition and the Vancouver International Music Competition in 2019, a gold medalist in the IPPA Conero International Piano Competition in 2023, and the 1st place winner for the ACNMP John Weinzweig Senior Category National Award in 2023. Charlotte won 1st place in the Crescendo International Competition and was invited to debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City at the age of 7. At the age of 8, Charlotte was invited to play as a piano soloist with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia. In addition to piano, Charlotte is currently playing in the IB concert band and grade 10-12 jazz band at her high school, notably as a principal Saxophonist.

Charlotte is in grade 11, Ross Sheppard High School.

 

Parker Zhang [张津榛]

Walnut Grove Secondary, Langley, BC
Dorothy Lu and Jung Shao Lu Community Services Award

Parker was Grad Council President, Grade Representative and Secretary on Student Council, advocating for more equitable and accessible inclusive learning spaces and planning grad activities to increase morale. As Editor-In-Chief of the Gator News, Parker was responsible for managing the news website, and mentoring writers. Parker was the Vice-President of the Green/Eco Team at WGSS and the Power in Youth Club President, where he coordinated efforts to raise awareness about food insecurity on social media platforms and organized a group of 30 volunteers to help with Meals on Wheels and Sources Langley Food Bank, as well as organizing the annual Christmas Food Drives. As the Vice-President of Youth Leaders in Law BC Chapter, he led the provincial chapter helping youth access justice, organizing social media posts and leading youth legal conferences.

Parker is enrolled in a Combined Major of Political Science and Economics at the University of British Columbia.

 

Ocean Ma [马令洋]

J.N. Burnett Secondary School, Richmond, BC
Murphy & Chung Chartered Accountants Athletics Award

Ocean is the five time No.1 nationally ranked junior squash player. She is the three-time national champion and won double gold medals for Team BC at the 2023 Canada Winter Games. At 15, she debuted at the 2022 WSF World Junior Championships. She represented Team Canada at the 2023 and 2024 World Junior Championships, competing for Team Canada at the No.1 position, where she led her teammates to place 6th in 2023. Ocean is the bronze medalist at the US Junior Open, the Canadian Junior Open Champion, two-time Alberta Junior Open Champion, two-time Pacific Northwest Junior Open Champion, past BC Provincial Champion, three-time BC Junior Open Champion, Ontario Junior Open Champion, and winner of the 2023 Massey Golden Trophy and the 2023 Ernie Rogers Bowl. Among many accolades, Ocean was the recipient of the Kevin Kydd Junior Service Award in 2022, which is presented to “an individual or group who has unselfishly inspired, coached or mentored Junior squash players”.

Ocean is pursuing computer science at Harvard University and joining the Harvard women’s squash team.

 

Eric Jujian Zou [邹具见]

Markville Secondary School, Markham, ON
Choi King and John C. Mah Memorial Innovation Award

In August 2023, Eric co-founded Articula to help newcomers overcome their language barriers and build their confidence in speaking. In August 2023, he won 5th Place in Youth Impact Challenge’s summer competition, and in October 2023, he was appointed Microsoft Startup Founders Hub affiliate founder. In November 2023, he won 1st place in Queen’s Young Entrepreneurs Competition, and in December 2023, 1st place in the Entrepreneur’s Impact Marathon. In May 2023, he codeveloped a solution for the medical industry, VitalConnect, which leverages the Internet of Things to monitor vital signs of chronic disease patients, reduce hospital costs, and protect patients. In March 2023, he co-founded and pitched Adwiser, a machine learning financial assistant. In November 2022, he co-developed EZTimes, which automates a personalized, customizable, user-friendly schedule that tells users what to do every day by their short-term and long-term goals.

Eric is enrolled at the University of Waterloo, Bachelor of Applied Science, Electrical Engineering, Honours, Co-Operative Program.

 

Samantha Fung [馮领谊]

Mississauga Secondary School, Mississauga, ON
AMIWealth Group Dignity of Life Award

When Samantha was in Grade 5, her father encouraged her to start volunteering with special needs students. When she couldn’t volunteer during the pandemic and experienced her own struggles with the isolation and frustration of online learning, she wondered how much worse it must be for those special needs children. Music For Every Child started as a thought and now it’s become an organization dedicated to youth mobilization, helping children with special needs and raising awareness. Engaging over 200 youth volunteers, Samantha and a core group of four friends have raised over $165,000 in the past two years to run one-hour sessions delivered by musical therapists in 22 schools in Mississauga, Toronto, Oakville, Brampton and Ottawa. The program works because kids recruit other kids and they help each other figure out leadership.

Samantha is currently studying at the United World College in Maastricht, Netherlands, to obtain her International Baccalaureate Diploma.

 

Brant Lee [李豪文]

Sands Secondary School, Delta, BC
Kwai Chun Wong Award of Excellence

Brant has always been interested in STEM and medicine and was ecstatic to hear there was a pre-biomedical engineering program at the University of British Columbia. He has been the winner of the Math 9, English 9, Science 10, Math 10, Physics 11, Pre-Calculus 11 and Photography 11 awards. In grade 10, he won the junior scholar award with a grade average of 99% in grade 11 and 98% in grade 12. He has been a part of the grad council, the green team, the homework club and library volunteers. He has also volunteered with the City of Delta, 819 Skyhawk Squadron air cadets, an engineering camp hosted by UBC called Geering Up, and at a local elementary school. His involvement within the community has helped him foster positive relationships with others. These experiences helped him grow and improve his interpersonal skills and become less reserved.

Brant is enrolled in Pre-Biomedical Engineering at the University of British Columbia.

 

Alexandra Chow [周筠筠]

Eric Hamber Secondary School, Vancouver, BC
Fay and John Wong Defence of the Environment Award

Alexandra had been in the Environment Club since grade eight, and on the executive team since grade 10. As President, she worked to become the first certified EcoSchool in the Vancouver School Board. She is also the co-founder of the Sustainable Union, co-leading two projects to pilot-test sugarcane paper, and to implement a Sustainable Corner in libraries. Alexandra was part of Youth 4 Climate Justice and the Vancouver School Board Sustainability Connection since grade 10 and ran Cultivate, a mentorship program. For the Technovation Girls competition, she co-created a mobile application to help youth cope with ecological anxiety. Alexandra is an alum of Ocean Wise’s Youth to Sea program. Her work to build inclusive and sustainable communities has fostered a communal interest in climate justice by normalizing the idea of using privilege to help others and empowering her community to create waves and transform the world.

Alexandra is enrolled at McMaster University in Arts and Science.

 

Hinson Chan [陳宇軒]

Eric Hamber Secondary School, Vancouver, BC
Ample Ace Holdings Ltd Innovation in Technology Award

Hinson’s journey began at EduBeyond, where he created an adaptive AI learning platform with Natural Language Processing. He worked with developers from the University of California’s Berkeley AI Research Lab to develop novel strategies in Retrieval Augmented Generation. He developed a bidirectional communication protocol using radio to power a CanSat, a small satellite device that was launched at this year’s Canadian CanSat competition. His microcontroller software led to his team representing Canada at the European Space Agency CanSat event this June. He created a Python library, ‘Flowchat’, which has been invaluable to both EduBeyond’s workflows and over 12,000 developers who have downloaded and used his library. He hosts a YouTube channel, which has over 1,700 subscribers and 150,000 views, showcasing his engineering and programming projects, as well as a full-length documentary about ‘land checkerboarding’.

Hinson is enrolled at Stanford University in Computer Science.

 

Evelyn Lee

Erindale Secondary School, Mississauga, ON
Leadership Award in Memory of Jeffrey W. Lem and Susan Chong Lem

Evelyn served as Erindale’s Student Activity Council (SAC) and DECA Co-President and served as Peel District School Board’s Student Trustee from 2022-2023. She founded The Student Voice Meeting and passed a unanimous motion for Peel’s first Indigenous Student Trustee, backed by the Ontario Public School Board Association in 2023. She worked on the Elementary Schools Consent Culture Curriculum Launch in collaboration with the Consent Culture and Mental Health steering committees. Evelyn joined the Halton DSB Student Trustee to co-found The Flourish Foundation and was Sponsorships Director for FUSE Society from 2022-2023 where she rose to Ontario President from 2023-2024. She was a Youth Facilitator at the Young Canadians’ Parliament in 2022-2023, after being a General Member from 2020-2022. Her list of contributions and engagements reflect a commitment to excellence, service, and philanthropy.

Evelyn is enrolled at Queen’s University for a Bachelor of Commerce.

 

Abigail MacLeod YinYue

Woodlawn High School, Dartmouth, NS
Foon Hay Lum Commemorative Award for Overcoming Adversity

Abigail is a proud Chinese 17 year old who was adopted at two years of age after being found as an infant on a bus and brought to an orphan’s shelter. She was born with a cleft palate and a hearing impairment and has undergone six surgeries, with a seventh one scheduled this past summer. She has volunteered with the Nova Scotia Trails Association and completed her Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Being different makes her a target for those who feel she doesn’t belong, but she continues to thrive no matter what others think of her. Abigail has not let anyone else’s opinions matter more than her own. She believes that to truly overcome adversity and obstacles, you have to overcome yourself, and become who you truly are no matter the obstacles put in front of you, and know that you are enough.

Abigail is continuing her studies at Woodlawn High School.