Last Updated: Tuesday - 01/04/2011

Youthful achievers

Edmonton Catholic Schools honours 25 outstanding students

EDMONTON — Edmonton Catholic Schools are sitting on gold mines.

Twenty-five students shone in their respective fields of work, which merited them spots on the growing list recipients of the Superintendent's Award of Excellence.

The WCR was able to interview six of the recipients, whose works range from humanitarianism, community service, immigrants' issues, palliative care to global awareness.

They may be young but hope springs eternal from this group of achievers.

Margaret Mangiel

Grade 12 - St. Joseph

Mangiel has been in Canada for almost three years and yet she exudes an attitude of confidence about who she is and where she wants to go.

"I really did not know much English when I first came to this school," said Mangiel, 20, who was born in Sudan.

"I was in ESL (English as a Second Language) class level 2. It was tough but it was fun," she laughed.

Despite the challenge of adjusting to a new language and country, Mangiel has excelled academically.

Committed to humanitarianism and dedicated to creating a better environment for all, she strives wherever and whenever she can to eliminate discrimination and assists new immigrants in making adjustments to Canadian life.

"I know how it feels not to be understood by everybody, so I try to help others adjust to their new environment," she said.

"The religious environment limits discrimination and racism," Mangiel said when asked why she chose St. Joseph.

This young woman, who has nothing but good to say about her school, was in a Catholic school back in Sudan. When she saw St. Joseph in her neighbourhood after the family moved to Edmonton, she was excited. "That's gonna be my school," she said.

"Aside from my parents, Mrs. Smarsh, my ESL teacher, is my role model. She taught me how to be myself," said Mangiel who is planning to take up civil engineering at the U of A.

Jennifer Ashley Khu

Grade 9 - Sir John Thompson

Remain on the top of the class, do volunteer work and just enjoy life are what Khu does best.

"I just want to help people and do something that's gonna make a difference," said Khu, 15.

Her love for dogs and her natural inclination to help others brought her to volunteer for Western Guide Dog assisting in the training of dogs for the disabled.

"I want to do something worthy of the spare time that I have," she said.

The school principal considers her an excellent ambassador of the school.

Khu, born in Edmonton to a Filipino couple, bears an unassuming personality and has a good grasp of what is of real importance. She believes that "looks fade but character lasts forever."

She does not like wasting time. When WCR had to re-shoot her photo she agreed to do it right in the middle of an exam.

According to her teachers, she is a respectful, honest and dedicated student, who maintains a phenomenal academic average while participating in volleyball, soccer, basketball, and track and field.

As a member of St. Edmund Parish, she is hoping to help in the music ministry by singing in the choir once summer vacation starts.

Greg Carrier

Grade 12 - Archbishop MacDonald

There is more than meets the eye when Carrier said: "We are normal; our ears just don't work."

He made history by being the first profoundly deaf student to finish high school in the mainstream school system.

Carrier, 18, functions as normally as his hearing peers do. In fact, he does more than what his classmates do in and outside the campus.

He teaches communication skills, organizes game and snack times and helps the children with a group newspaper at Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, where he volunteers. He also does a lot of work with elementary level deaf children and over the years has been a trailblazer in the school system.

Carrier uses Signed Exact English (SEE) and has innovated new ways of transmitting information through the help of an electronic note-taker.

Other deaf kids are now using the same method Carrier started. "It keeps me going to hear about how these kids are doing in their schools," he said.

"My mother always reminds me to be a positive role model for other deaf persons," said Carrier, who considers his mother to be a constant encouragement for his educational pursuit.

"She worked hard fighting the system to get me to a regular school. It paid off and others benefitted from it too," he added.

This youngster, who attends St. Mark's Catholic Community of the Deaf, hopes to explore how science and technology could be made more accessible to the deaf community.

With the right attitude, positive outlook and exceptional courage, Carrier is set to step to the portals of U of A this fall.

Chad Nedohin

Grade 12 - Holy Trinity

Jesus is a pretty good role model, says this student leader who, 10 years from now, wants to be in Detroit working for Dodge, designing cars.

Nedohin, a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, enjoys the environment and the kind of education he gets from his school.

Though Nedohin, 18, is passionate about cars, he cares enough that he organized together with two other fellow students, a project to raise funds for the purchase of a land mine detection dog that is now detecting land mines in Bosnia.

A reluctant leader at first, he served as public relations officer for the student council of his school when he was in Grade 11. This year he is the council's president.

This teenager is generous with his time. He agreed to be interviewed an hour before his final exam in chemistry.

Besides Jesus as his role model, he takes a little bit from everybody, people from the schools, from the Church and from his parents. He loves to be of service to others especially those who need help.

Art and music are two of his favourite school activities. He can switch to being a guitarist in a jazz band to being in a stage play. But for him, serving the students as council president is closest to his heart.

Determination, hard work, openness to challenge and a sense of maturity are Nedohin's tools for success.

Academically he is in the top five per cent of the student population in the province.

Iain Gillis

Grade 12 - Louis St. Laurent

You want a doctor who does both physical and pastoral care? Gillis is one in the making.

What is so impressive about this 18-year-old student is his interest in helping people in general. At his age, he finds meaning in giving companionship to palliative care patients at the Cross Cancer Institute.

"It all began when our neighbour got sick," Gillis said. The neighbour needed a ride to a cancer clinic and since then, Gillis started journeying with the cancer patients.

"You see a different side of people when they are stripped away of everything, when they are dying," said the soft-spoken Gillis.

"I don't know what it is that draws me to do (palliative care). I think it is more of a feeling than something that can be described," said this young man, who is a sports enthusiast.

Gillis, who will attend U of A next fall, dreams of becoming a doctor. His interest is orthopedics and trauma.

An honour student, Gillis is also a Eucharistic minister at his parish of St. Anthony in Edmonton.

With his busy schedule he finds time to tutor elementary students at Bishop Greschuk School and volunteers with non-profit organizations and fundraising projects.

Thien-an Nguyen

Grade 9 - Holy Cross

Thien-an is 14 years old. She is no Michelle Kwan, but she has the attitude and the gifts to become another one.

This young woman is gifted but her most impressive quality is her willingness to share her talents with her family, peers, students in need, her Church community and the community at large.

"I am hoping to make it to the Canadian, if I could make it to the top four in the provincial," Nguyen said of her love for figure skating.

She is passionate about skating but her studies come as a priority too. That is why Michelle Kwan is her role model.

"Others quit school just to skate. Michelle is a full-time student and remains on the top. I wanna be like her," said Nguyen, who started another season of training for the next provincial.

Born in Edmonton, Nguyen, who has a ready smile for everyone, has acquired linguistic skills, which she uses to tutor young children in French and her relatives in English.

Faith is important to her. With her parents she regularly attends Good Shepherd Parish.

"I love Good Shepherd. I couldn't go anywhere else. People are bright and friendly. We are one big family," said Nguyen.

"I will even bring up my children there," she added.

At school, she said religion is something that they talk about. "We've been together since Grade 1 so we are not scared or ashamed to talk and ask questions about our faith."

"We need to understand our Catholic faith," she added.

Superintendent's Achievement Award's 19 other winners

Nina Singh

Grade 12 - Archbishop MacDonald

Singh is Harvard bound. She is one of the 1,600 successful applicants out of a total of 19,000 worldwide.

Ken Seto

Grade 12 - Archbishop MacDonald

He received the prestigious Dean's Citation in Science, a U of A scholarship program that recognizes students who achieve an academic average of 95 per cent or higher throughout high school.

Leanna Dejnaka

Grade 12 - Austin O'Brien

While maintaining outstanding academic standards, she has been an artist, dancer, actress, singer, musician and an active outdoors person.

Lisa-Marie Stocks

Grade 12 - Austin O'Brien

A true humanitarian, she was a driving force in raising more than $20,000 for Austin O'Brien's Kosovo project in just 48 hours.

Melissa Aytenfisu

Grade 12 - J.H. Picard

A charismatic young woman, whose exceptional leadership qualities, artistic gifts (visual, theatre and terpsichorean) and sports skills are tested.

Laura Gill

Grade 12 - Louis St. Laurent

Fluently bilingual, Gill's political inclination has taken her to conferences including Encounters with Canada, Forum for Young Canadians, and Les Jeux Francophone du Nord et L'Ouest.

Anna Hryciw

Grade 12 - Louis St. Laurent

Hryciw is a greeter and musician at St. Joseph's College Chapel, a member of Cheremosh Society and Edmonton School of Ballet Dance Group, and a violinist with Edmonton Youth Orchestra.

Sean McElwain

Grade12 - St. Francis Xavier

He volunteers at the Edmonton Food Bank, Bissell Centre and the Royal Alex Hospital. McElwain was Global TV's Athlete of the Week during February this year.

Paige Smith

Grade 12 - St. Francis Xavier

Smith has shown her leadership ability as president of student council and in the many projects she initiated. She builds community through action.

Barbara Paul

Grade 12 - St. Joseph

Volunteer work is very important to Paul and she works with a Grade 2 class as well as in a nursing home in St. Albert.

Catherine Rosevear

Grade 12 - Fresh Start (Downtown)

Rosevear has shown exceptional strength in overcoming obstacles in her life. She expresses herself creatively and her Christianity is often revealed in her artwork.

Jenna Davie

Grade 9 - St. Clement

Davie exemplifies the meaning of the term "student-athlete." She donates some of her time to children's camp for five to nine-year-old children and to her church's Sunday school program.

Carmen Chan

Grade 9 - St. Kevin

During her three years at St. Kevin, Chan has shown outstanding academic and athletic effort and leadership, and has been a role model for her peers.

Chris Clackett

Grade 9 - St. Nicholas

Nicholas is responsible, positive and productive and consistently strives for the best for the school.

Carrie Wells

Grade 9 - St. Rose

Highly successful academically, Wells volunteers at the Whitemud Equine Centre, where she teaches handicapped children horseback riding every week.

Chris Biegel

Grade 9 - St. Mary's (Vegreville)

Biegel is a responsible, mature young man who exhibits great enthusiasm for his school, Church and community. Biegel's Catholic faith is demonstrated in his caring and respect for others.

Karlee Bradshaw

Grade 8 - St. Cecilia

An outstanding honour student and leader, who demonstrates an extraordinary effort to foster a positive quality of life in the school.

Daniel Brewster

Grade 9 - Blessed Kateri

Dignity and respect are integral to Brewster's personality. These are demonstrated to through his Christian faith. He is a member of the peer education team of the school and he helps his peers deal with issues relating to violence, peer pressure and drug and alcohol abuse.

Cassie Embury

Grade 9 - St. Alphonsus

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