Three Shad Valley alumni receive prestigious Rhodes Scholarship

Congratulations to Shad Valley alumni Raed Joundi, Lisette Yorke, and Amol Verma who are recipients of a 2008 Rhodes Scholarship. All three will travel to Oxford in September to pursue their postgraduate studies. There are currently 21 Shad Valley alumni Rhodes scholars.

Raed, from Winnipeg Manitoba, attended Shad Valley at the University of Waterloo in 2003. Lisette, who attended Shad Valley at Carleton University in 2004, is from Hillside Boularderie in Nova Scotia. Amol, a 2001 Shad Valley Calgary alumnus, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Some interesting facts about Shad Valley’s Rhodes Scholars:

• 2008 marks the second year when three alumni were honoured in the same year (in 2001 three alumni were also honoured)
• There are currently 21 Rhodes Scholars in the Shad alumni community
• Visit the Shad Valley Rhodes Scholarship page to learn more about Shad’s alumni scholars

Eleven Canadian students are awarded a Rhodes Scholarship every year. The international award allows winners to study a postgraduate course full-time at Oxford University. Approximately 83 awards are offered per year across 15 countries, with the United States having the highest number of honourees at 32. Many notable individuals have received a Rhodes scholarship, including former American President Bill Clinton, Canadian commentator Rex Murphy, and Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams.

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Alumna receives Weston Award; 2009 Participant among finalists

Shad Valley is delighted to congratulate young alumna Eden Full, who attended Shad Valley Trent in 2008, as the recipient of the 2009 Weston Youth Innovation Award. Eden has received the national prize for her solar panel invention Dynamic Photovoltaics.
Eden’s project won top honours for its creativity and real-world problem solving abilities. Dynamic Photovoltaics is a passive solar tracker that moves panels towards the sun using inexpensive, environmentally-safe materials commonly found in developing countries and elsewhere. The device maximizes the efficiency of solar panels by having them track the sun during the course of the day, and can be easily maintained and repaired with simple instructions.

Also among the finalists for this award is upcoming Shad Valley 2009 participant Albert Hu, who founded the Northern Secondary Robotic Innovation Team, and will attend Shad this summer at Carleton University.

The Weston Youth Innovation Award was established to encourage and recognize young Canadian innovators and part of the W. Garfield Weston commitment to education. To compete for this prestigious award, students from across Canada aged 14 to18 outlined how they have shown initiative and leadership to be agents of change in addressing a current issue they are passionate about.

Eden will be awarded her $2,000 prize at an upcoming event at the Ontario Science Centre. In addition, she will work with an Ontario Science Centre multimedia team to create a short animation showcasing her project to be displayed in the Weston Family Innovation Centre. Details of her project will be posted at www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/innovationaward/.