NEWS RELEASE
SUSTAINABLE ORILLIA
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Three local high school students will be receiving a new student scholarship at their schools’ commencement exercises on June 29 — the newly inaugurated Sustainable Orillia Youth Council (SOYC) Scholarship.
The three 2023 graduates — Blythe Wieclawek and Weiqi Xu from Twin Lakes Secondary School and Ceylon Auger from Orillia Secondary School (OSS) — will each receive a $500 award. The awards are co-sponsored by Sustainable Orillia and Orillia Power Generation.
The idea for the creation of the award came from this year’s SOYC members as a suggestion for both recognizing and encouraging membership in the Youth Council across Orillia’s three high schools.
The students making the proposal envisioned the scholarship award being initiated in the next school year, to be awarded in June of 2024. However, when the Sustainable Orillia Board studied and approved the proposal for up to three annual SOYC scholarships, they decided to make the prizes available for the class of 2023 as well.
Wieclawek, President of the Youth Council for the past two years, will be going on to Harvard University in September where she will study pre-med. Blythe, who has been an outstanding member of the local Channel Cats swim team, will be representing Harvard in the pool. As the SOYC President, she led the organization of the Sustainable Simcoe Youth Summit in May of 2022, attended by 200 students from SCDSB schools. She represented Orillia youth in consultations on Orillia’s plastic-reduction plan and during the discussions that led to Orillia’s Climate Action Plan.
Blythe notes, “I plan to continue my change-making and sustainability initiatives while at school [at Harvard], and I can’t wait to see what can be accomplished through the support of my university.”
Xu will be heading off to the University of Waterloo in September to study Geomatics in the Faculty of Environment. A key member of the SOYC’s Executive for the past two years, he has also been a huge asset to Sustainable Orillia, the parent organization, through his knowledge and application of computer skills to the organization of SO’s website, www.sustainableorillia.ca
“I plan to use the soft skills I’ve gained throughout my tenure with the SOYC and other leadership roles [in high school] to play a leadership role within organizations that strive to make our world a more sustainable place ..." said Xu.
Auger is looking forward to her environmental science/sustainability future at Dalhousie University. As the OSS representative on the Youth Council, she assisted in preparing the student Summit in 2022 and helped run the youth climate lab activity. She also led the running of the SOYC clothing swap at OSS. She has learned much from her work with SOYC.
“This group has been a fantastic way to connect with other youth in Orillia who are passionate about environmental action, and it has given me a youth-led activism experience that I will carry on into my future.”
All of us at Sustainable Orillia are grateful to the three for their leadership of the Youth Council over the past two years, as we are grateful to all our Youth Council members.
As Blythe, Weiqi and Ceylon move on to their next chapters, they have ensured a successful leadership transition for this coming fall. From Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School, Kate Sontage will be the incoming Sustainable Orillia Youth Council President, supported by fellow PF student, Anna Bivol, as Vice-President.
Welcome to you both. We are looking forward to working closely with you in the next school year.
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