From coast to coast, Kelly Lovell’s passion for change is catching on and catching eyes.
The Kitchener-Waterloo native, going into her second year at Western this fall, has been named one of Canada’s Top 20 Under Twenty – an honour that recognizes her widespread dedication to inspiring youth and mobilizing change in communities across the globe. Top 20 Under Twenty is presented by Youth in Motion, a national charitable organization that designs and implements motivational career programs for youth.
To meet the province’s mandatory high school graduation requirements, Lovell started volunteering with a local stable that offered therapeutic horseback riding lessons to persons with disabilities. Admittedly unenthusiastic at first, she quickly realized the potential in uniting local youth, their interests and the community.
The 19-year-old started a campaign in Kitchener-Waterloo called Passion for Progress. She wanted to change the perspective that volunteering is chore.
In order to showcase what she thought was untapped potential, Lovell organized an online, three-week campaign and competition that pinned local high schools against each other. The campaign encouraged students to log on and make a profile with the city’s Volunteer Action Centre that would then match potential volunteers with local organizations.
Though the winner of the contest was the school with the highest number of new profiles, the community won in the end, she explained.
“Over 1,500 youth logged on and more than 700 donated three hours of their time, for a total of more than 2,000 volunteer hours in the community. It was really successful,” Lovell said.
Her efforts didn’t go unnoticed. Last year, Ontario’s Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration presented Lovell with the Newcomer Champion Award, one that recognizes groups and individuals who have made a difference in their communities through active citizenship and engagement. She was also named a provincial ‘Change the World’ Youth Ambassador with the ministry.
But that was just the start.
In the summer of 2011, Lovell founded another campaign, Dollars for Dreams, which inspired youth across Canada raise funds for Save the Children, an international charitable organization that provides relief and supports the needs of children in developing countries.
“I wanted to create awareness of how much (difference) one dollar – what people pay for a pack of gum – can make,” she said.
Lovell got youth across the country on board by way of social media and helped organize a series of youth-led fundraisers.
“Youth want to do something different in the summer and this was a chance to do a fun project while simultaneously helping someone else,” she explained.
Among the activities, a car wash in British Columbia, a run-a-thon in Quebec, a flash mob and a gourmet bake sale at home, raised $4,000 for Save the Children’s educational fund. The money was donated to schools in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest regions in the world.
“There’s a lot of potential but a lot of biases about youth and their ability to contribute,” said Lovell, who spearheaded the above campaigns not only to contribute, but also to shatter negative perceptions of youth.
Since coming to Western last fall for a joint, five-year degree in biomedical science and business (through Richard Ivey School of Business’ Advanced Entry Opportunity), Lovell has looked for ways to contribute to her new community.
“I didn’t stop (doing what I was doing), I just adapted,” she said.
“I recognized a need in London and approached City Hall. I’m working with councilors and Mayor (Joe) Fontana on a green initiative that will be launched this fall. It will be something new the city hasn’t done before.”
On campus, Lovell will serve as a senator-at-large next year and will sit, after being named the 2012 Western Apprentice by the Western Apprentice Club, on its executive board.
“Ultimately, I have a two-step goal: I want to take my dual degree and do medical research, to create my own pharmaceuticals, with a cosmetic spin, to use my entrepreneurial background and make a successful cosmetic enterprise,” she said.
“Then, I want to become the first successful female prime minister.”
In addition to Lovell, two future Western students were honoured and profiled in The Globe and Mail Wednesday as well as honoured at a ceremony Thursday. From the newspaper’s coverage:
At age 6, Brooke Harrison was told her cousin had leukemia – news she refused to take sitting down.
“I had no comprehension of what cancer was, but I just saw that she was sick,” said the now 17-year-old, who is finishing her last year at Aurora High School this month.
Harrison’s idea for a charity cookbook, Cookin’ in Brooke’s Kitchen, to raise money to fight the childhood cancer was just the start of her work, which has earned her the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Harrison collected recipes from family and friends, as well as Canadian singers Anne Murray and Shania Twain, for two editions of her book – released at ages 8 and 11. She raised $60,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.
She will enter the Social Justice and Peace Studies program at King’s University College at Western University this fall. She aims for a career in law, specializing in either human rights or running a charitable organization.
As co-founder of The Student Voice Initiative, a national movement aiming to get students more involved in the educational decision-making process, Jaxson Khan believes young people have an important voice that needs to be heard.
“A lot of youth just need a spark to get going, but they also need a venue,” said Khan, CEO of the Ontario Students Trustees’ Association (OSTA), past president of the Gay-Straight Alliance in his high school and former student trustee for the Peel District School Board.
Through OSTA, he also became an advocate for youth mental health and, along with mental health experts and educators from across Ontario, helped co-author the Student Charter of Rights: Children and Youth Mental Health and Well Being.
Khan, who studied abroad first-year at the Bader International Study Centre in England, enters second-year at Western this fall with a double major in Global Development and Business Administration, with plans for a career in public service.