2025 Results

Arts Achievement Winners

12-17: Caden & Cavan Mabee

Eight years ago in 2017, these two brothers were both cast as Oompa Loompas in the Fall Fundraising show, Willy Wonka. Since then, they’ve been involved in six different Flato Academy Theatre productions; The Little Mermaid, The Sound of Music, Seussical, James and the Giant Peach and The Wizard of Oz, and their roles have been both onstage and offstage.

While at Central Senior School, they each served as masters of ceremonies for events like Remembrance Day assemblies, Arts Gala nights and Holiday concerts. They both play several instruments, and have recently taken up songwriting. A song they composed called “You” earned third place in a local Singers and Songwriters contest, and have not only published it online but played it at the Pie Eyed Monk.

18-24: John Bolk

John is a multi-instrumentalist, proficient in piano, guitar and drums, with a deep passion for recording music. With this talent and passion, he plays an active role in various community initiatives. These include performing at the Flato Academy Theatre and cheering on others performing with less experience than him, fundraising for women’s shelters, offering comfort and engagement to seniors and those living with dementia, and many more.

He also inspires young minds at our youth centre. His dedication to promoting music in our drop-in programs has not only enriched the lives of countless youth but has also fostered a vibrant and creative community. He has organized music lessons during his employment with us but also outside too, providing a safe space for self-expression.

Outstanding Worker Winners

12-17: Eden Carter & William Latour

At the tender age of 14, William discovered his passion for lawn care. He started a post on a local Kawartha Lakes Facebook group in search of anyone looking to have their grass cut, he got a lot of responses in which he responded to each very professionally. The following summer, William was getting returning customers and he saved up some of his money for better equipment and treating it with the utmost care.

During the winter months, he volunteers with a Lindsay Police officer, Coach Kevin Walden for the Ontario Minor Hockey U9 and U11 teams. His enthusiasm for fire safety also led him to volunteer at the Little Britain Fire Hall open house, where he educated the public and children about fire prevention. Once William turns 18 he will apply to be a volunteer fire fighter in Little Britain.

Eden was nominated by two different people. One for her work at Browning Reptiles, friends of ours, and as a returning member of the Kawartha Lakes Youth Council.

She has been instrumental for initiatives carried out by the council in the past years. She’s always consistently at meetings and has excellent ideas to contribute to conversations. She has helped come up with and bring to life many ideas, like last year when the council put a group together to clean up Ken Reid Park, and deciding activities for the Teen Wellness Fair. She is a very cooperative and supportive person with a strong sense of responsibility.

And at Browning Reptiles, she is very diligent handler of the reptiles they have there. She goes above and beyond for the care and advocation of the animals. The owner of Browning Reptiles said of Eden, “She’s amazing. I have never had such an ambitious and caring person under my wing. She’s a staple here. I am thrilled.”

18-24: Bailey Bourque

Bailey has been employed with us since April of 2023 after graduating from Trent University with a Bachelor in Social Work. She came in at a time of change and poured all her energy into redesigning a program to meet the current needs of children and youth in our community.

Simultaneously, she took over the Youth Justice program, where she recruited and trained new program volunteers, who she now schedules and supervises. Bailey is a true team player; she is always open to supporting her fellow co-workers and works hard within the Club.

Humanitarian Winner

12-17: Avalon Loube

Avalon has been eager to do whatever she can to make people feel respected and deserving since a very young age.

She was once part of a drive to collect menstrual products for women who couldn’t afford them, and her rallying of the community and local businesses had her unit raise the most. She also volunteered at food banks.

Now, since starting high school, Avalon’s best involved in the Fenelon Falls Secondary School Social Justice Committee, bringing awareness to the entire school of the importance of recognition for marginalized groups. She regularly writes announcements for the beginning of school days to explain a day’s importance, and to encourage celebration of important events such as Truth & Reconciliation Day and Black History Month. She’s also part of the Connect Crew, which helps eighth graders get acquainted with the scary transition into high school.

She recently also had a friend who had back surgery and had specific requirements to make sure she didn’t harm herself, upon returning to school. Avalon carried her friend’s backpack every day, and she would leave class as quickly as possible and head straight for her friend every da to provide any required assistance.

STEM Winner

12-17: Julian Junkin

Julian works at Ampere, formerly Pinnguaq, as a Junior STEAM Educator, embodying the themes of this award in his day-to-day work, consistently demonstrating curiosity, innovation and a passion for discovery. He began as a summer camp counsellor, and he is now an educator inspiring the next generation.

Julian has taken the lead in planning and delivering Ampere’s after-school programming, including with robotics, coding, and multimedia programs that provide young learners with fun and practical experiences.

In addition, he commandeers Hackathons with local youth, Saturday drop-in sessions, summer camp leadership, and leads in teaching kids about 3D printing through the TinkerCad software.

Julian not only provides engaging, high-quality programming but also ensures that every learner feels supported and encouraged.

Health & Wellness Champion Winners

12-17: Sean Hayman & Karina Treiguts

Sean stays physically active and aware, and has continuously promoted this mindset in a world that he sees dominated by screens and electronics. At school he plays soccer, volleyball, basketball, badminton and Track & Field.

He’s also a member of the Peterborough Pacers Track and Field Club and the captain of the Local Boys U18 Rep Soccer team at the Kawartha Lakes Soccer Club. His captain position has allowed him to take on leadership roles with younger teams within the Kawartha Lakes Soccer Club, showing young kids the importance of staying active.

He also uses his voice to promote physical well-being at the Club, as a multi-time sports leader and summer camp counselor. There have been previous sports-related Specialty Camps in the summer, where he’s been called upon to lead.

Karina has played for the Weldon basketball, tennis and volleyball teams as well as the Wildcats Basketball rep team. She also horseback rides, has been a part of the Weldon Athletic Union and is co-chair of the Student Council this year. Despite being busy, with schoolwork and sports, she also spends time volunteering for the Girls House League program at the Lindsay Wildcats Basketball Association.

She has also been an integral part of the Weldon Wildcats community encouraging their younger female athletes to step up for basketball. The Wildcats’ girls house league has younger players between grades 3 to 8 and they look up to Karina tremendously. She is a mentor to their young players.

The one who nominated her said that, as a female who organizes sports in the Kawartha Lakes community, honouring players like Karina is a proud moment, and these are the types of kids who will continue to share their passion for years to come.

Leadership Winners

12-17: Fenelon Falls Youth Council – Avalon Loube, Ella Austin Scollick, Sofia Entzin-Telford, Cooper Young

These four have worked tirelessly to bring a new youth program to Fenelon Falls, demonstrating incredible dedication. They met monthly to collaborate on ideas and strategies for creating meaningful opportunities for Fenelon Falls Youth. They contributed numerous volunteer hours, attending meetings with both the Fenelon Falls Co-Op Committee and BGC employees, visiting proposed sites, and exploring program options.

They also actively contribute to the Grove Theatre, the Fenelon Falls Museum, their school council and many other initiatives. Even parents picking up their younger children have expressed admiration for these youth.

Individually, Avalon and Sofia sit on the Social Justice Club at Fenelon Falls Secondary School. They have put together several events and campaigns at the school such as organizing orang shirt day initiatives. Cooper and Ella were both leaders on the REACH team. Cooper and Sofia both hold leadership roles on the student union and have contributed greatly to the school and student experience. They lead meetings, delegate jobs, but never hesitate to jump in and do hard things or support others. They are well respected by their peers and always ensure students have a voice. Ella cares so much about our community, she is a frequent fixture at the museum and has been a leader in many ways.

Resiliency Winner

12-17: Ryan Fraser

Despite being thrown into countless challenges and facing numerous obstacles in his life, Ryan has grown into an exceptional young man. Ryan’s childhood differed from that of the average child, having to bounce between homes, but despite all he’s been through, he’s not lost hope or his sense of compassion.

Last year, Ryan was appointed by other young in the community as our Teen Centre’s Youth of the Year for his kindness and willingness to help others. He consistently assists youth in fixing their scooters and bikes when in need. Ryan is known for taking new youth under his wing when these youth visit our centre for the first time, giving them their first friend in it.

Ryan’s been enrolled in our Leaders-in-Training summer camp program for the last two summers, and in addition to completing 119 community service hours in just one summer, Ryan once had strep throat, and came in to ask for a sick day rather than calling in, because he didn’t have a phone, and took the initiative to work extra shifts to make up for this even though it was not required of him.

In spite of all the immense hardships Ryan has been through, he has persevered and has come out the other side a strong, outstanding young person.

BGC Club Spirit Winners

12-17: Alexa Shvedenkova

Alexa is one of the kindest and most respected people there. During youth council meetings, they always try their hardest to support others, including a time when a friend of theirs was too shy to speak up during a council meeting and they helped her get the idea out. Alexa also has taken the time to welcome people into our Club that have been nervous about first attending.

Alexa also helps out at the Club at various opportunities, helping with dishes without hesitation, clearing the table, sweeping, putting things away and so much more, even though it’s not asked of them. They really embolden compassion at the Club.

18-24: Riley Cunningham

Riley’s been a part of many of our summer camps, and has been in our soccer and basketball leagues. He’s also been a volunteer for us in our Leader-in-Training program and was hired as both a camp leader and soccer coach. He describes his experiences here at the Club as helping him with his athletic and social skills, which have apparently carried into other areas of his life. At Weldon where he went to school, he received several awards such as the Outstanding Work Ethic in Business award from Baker Tilly, which recognizes hard work, dedication and personal growth. At his graduation last June, he received the I.E. Weldon Business Department award, which is presented to a student who has excelled in multiple business courses over their high school career and has applied their knowledge and skills to real-world business contexts.

Last year in his final year of hockey, Riley was selected by the coaching staff to receive the Most Team Spirit Award, recognizing a player that has an all-around great attitude. he thanks us for helping his in these achievements, and we are incredibly humbled.

Scholarship Winners

Ron Kennedy Scholarship: Sean Hayman

While working at our Club, starting last year in April 2024, Sean has helped countless children have a positive experience by encouraging safety, relationship building, and most of all, fun. While he was a couch in the Outdoor Soccer program, he encouraged the children on his team to converse and build great relationships they could take off the field.

As a 2024 Summer Camp leader, he had more responsibility with a bigger group of kids and a longer time period. He had to rarely write incident reports or talk to supervisors about misbehaviours, and he feels this came from leading by example. As the summer progressed, he was offered the chance to be a Specialty Camp counsellor on multiple camps due to his effectiveness. He feels this came from coming into the job with a sense of initative, and positive attitude, and a willingness to try new things, and this won the children over.

Marcie Beall Scholarship: Grace Freitag

Grace is a Weldon student who has made Honour Role, the Principal’s List twice, and multiple subject awards. She is also going to McGill in the Fall to enter into the field of medicine and hopes this scholarship will alleviate some of the financial burden.

She has been a part of multiple awareness and fundraising initiatives to support the Lindsay Lynx Girls Hockey Association, as well as other volunteering opportunities, and learned through them about how the dedication of so many people is required to make these organizations accessible to local youth. Her participation in various extracurricular activities, including being a member of the Green Advocates, and a Grade 9 Link Leader, and being on the Girls Rugby Team, has helped her grow into a confident leader.

2024 Results

Gabrielle Matthew

Gabrielle’s nomination focused on a single, stunning achievement. They wrote a modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well, produced the show and was involved in all aspects of the play at Weldon. Gabrielle also designed the production to raise money for a local charity, single-handedly gathering items for a silent auction. Those kinds of achievements are especially worthy of applause from a youth!

Logan Gerzymisch

Logan has racked up a lot of experience at the Lindsay Little Theatre. From light and sound technician, to stage manager, to producer, to director – she has excelled in every role. She has also mentored others and promotes an inclusive environment.

The other finalist in this award was Alyssa Codling, who also has lots of experience at the Lindsay Little Theatre. Logan serves on the Board of Directors and co-chairs the social media role with Alyssa.

Runners-Up

In addition to Gabrielle Matthew and Logan Gerzymisch winning the Arts Achievement awards, our runners-up were Jaslyn Jolicoeur, Henry Oliver and Alyssa Codling!

Jaslyn is a multi-talented musician and actor. She studies piano, flute and is in multiple choirs. She has also been in many theatre productions including James and the Giant Peach last fall. She’s been described as very encouraging of all those around her.

Henry is dedicated to his pursuit of theatre. His commitment includes the participation in the integrated arts program at Thomas A Stewart, meaning a daily commute to school. Over the years, he has also learned guitar and piano, and been a strong advocate for the arts.

Alyssa has developed a broad range of skills at the Lindsay Little Theatre from the early days when she began behind the scenes, to later as she became an accomplished director. Alyssa is studying arts at university and continues to secure opportunities in a highly competitive environment. She volunteers with the Lindsay Little Theatre and is a co-director of their social media alongside Logan Gerzymisch.

Ella Marsh

Ella has made waves with her business. She identified the challenges parents often face getting their children to swim lessons and created a new enterprise where she sends qualified swim instructors to them! Her Swim 2 You business was conceived and launched in the spring of 2023, impacting many children and families in the community. It is amazing seeing the difference a youth can make like that!

Jack Georgiou

Jack was an Ontario Summer Company grantee last year. He had a dream of creating a successful boat detailing company. From sourcing the best products and equipment to designing his own social media promotion, this candidate handled all aspects of his new business. If you’re in the market for a clean boat, you need look no further!

Runner-Up

Also nominated for our Entrepreneurship Award is the incredible Theo Ward, who frequents our Warehouse Youth Centre and is a delight.

Theo’s journey to create took him down the path of establishing a band. A dedicated musician himself, he used his creative energy to inspire others to join him. Like any new initiative, he tapped into his promotion and organizational skills to recruit other band members and plan a rehearsal schedule. Staff at our youth centre sang Theo’s praises in his nomination!

Leah Roxborough & Sage Stapleton

Their campaigns and activities have diverted garbage from the landfill through recycling programs and they’ve even prevented hundreds of socks from getting thrown out. By raising money at the school, they also were able to work with the Canopy Project to plant trees. And that’s just scratching the surface of all they have done.

Runners-Up

The runners-up for our Green Award were Eden Carter and Zoe McIntosh!

Eden has inspired action through her membership with the youth council at BGC Kawarthas. Not only does she frequently focus on issues related to the environment but through her intervention, the youth council spent some time at Ken Reid Conservation area and planted a tree there as well. She’s also dedicated to rehoming animals.

Zoe has been identified as a leader on green issues at Fenelon Falls Secondary School. She frequently brings ideas to the table of ways that school activities and initiatives can be more sustainable and have less impact on the environment. She’s also an active youth representative with the Horticultural Society.

Abbey Williams

Abbey is active in watersports and has dedicated her talents to teaching and mentoring others. As a certified swim instructor and lifeguard, Abbey teaches the fundamentals of the sport and also a love for it. As a volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters, she has also shared her love of canoeing with kids who have never before had the opportunity to try it.

Katelin Langford

Katelin has been competing on the ice since she was 10, through school and as a member of clubs in Lindsay and Peterborough. She’s a skip with a winning record including Gold at OFSAA this year. She even organized a program to introduce more kids to the sport. She’s learning as much as she can about curling and even the ice, achieving certification as an ice maker.

Runners-Up

In 12-17 we had Malcolm Johnson and Harrison Smeaton, and in 18-24 we had Abby McGinn and Kaylee MacKinnon.

Let’s start with 12-17. Malcolm is passionate about soccer. He’s a terrific player himself and shows exceptional leadership at his school, Jack Callaghan, where he mentors younger players in a recess soccer program. He makes a selfless contribution to school sports.

Harrison demonstrates respect on and off the field. As a baseball player with the Whitby Canadians and as a young coach with the Kawartha Cubs, he has consistently modeled this in team sports.

Now onto 18-24. Abby devoted many hours to playing hockey with the Lindsay Lynx, as well as other sports, in her lifelong commitment to staying active and fit for life. A role model for her brother as well as many others, she continues to make a commitment to physical activity while juggling her studies overseas.

As a BGC staff member, Kaylee is mentoring children in her care about being active for life. She has been an enthusiastic sport and camp leader for 3 years, teaching the fundamentals, and striving to make everyone feel welcomed. Kaylee is a positive role model for young people at BGC Kawarthas.

Rachel Goodhand

Rachel’s dedication to making the world a better place is evident in her contributions at school, church and in the community. The list of social justice activities she’s involved in is really long! One of the ones we liked best was the creation of a candy gram initiative that she and a few of her friends launched to raise money for school initiatives. She was also a volunteer with the Sparkle and Swagger event this year that raised $20,000 for school sports at our 4 local high schools.

Runners-Up

In addition to Rachel Goodhand winning the Humanitarian Award, our other nominees were Sophie Kaloudas, and the winners of the Green Award, Leah Roxborough and Sage Stapleton.

Sophie observed the effects of COVID 19 in her peers and was concerned about the lack of activities in school once they were back in person. So, she decided to do something about it! The number of initiatives she spearheaded is incredible. Athlete of the Week, Lunchtime Intramurals, Team photos, and an army of volunteer scorekeepers so teams could resume play. The result was a return to fun, active opportunities for her school community.

And as we learned earlier, Leah and Sage are eco warriors. Something we didn’t share was their advocacy efforts – they’ve organized letter writing campaigns regarding local environment policy, and about clean investment choices. They’re definitely willing to stand up for the things they believe in!

Angela Staples

The adversity Angela faced has been massive since April 2023 when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. While undergoing multiple rounds of chemotherapy, Angela maintained a positive attitude that inspired all of those around her. Throughout it all, she kept up her marks, volunteered, and excelled at a new co-op placement, despite the challenge of the treatment. She is an inspiration to us all.

Runners-Up

Here are the runners-up for our Resiliency Award, Summer James and Reagan Lusted!

Summer approaches life with grit and determination and to know her, you wouldn’t know that she had lost most of her hearing as a young child. Today – Summer balances high school with 2 jobs – one at Extendicare in Fenelon Falls and the other with BGC. According to her nomination, “she loves working with children and the elderly and strives to make a difference every day”.

Reagan was a Physical Literacy award winner in 2022. Her nomination for Resiliency is from how she takes strength from her faith, and a belief in hard work and the importance of continuing to move forward. These are the qualities her nomination said make her resilient. Over the years, she’s faced numerous obstacles including bullying and anxiety, but she’s the first to extend a helping hand to a new student, or to local charity efforts.

Harrison Smeaton

Harrison demonstrates leadership in all facets of his life and says it has shaped him as a human being. Being involved in community events or with charitable work is important to him – one of the most impactful was delivering food to A Place Called Home. He’s also a leader in sports as we heard earlier, in the church, at work and at school. His leadership qualities have been recognized with greater responsibility at the school board’s arts camp.

Calisa Bean

Calisa has become a strong advocate for youth, noticed during her Co-op placement with the Kawartha Lakes Police Service. She jumped into the effort to engage youth in developing a pitch for a youth wellness hub in Kawartha Lakes. This was no surprise for those who know her since she has been a longtime leader with Brownie and Guide groups, and at school.

Runners-Up

In addition to Harrison Smeaton and Calisa Bean winning the Leadership award, the runners-up in 12-17 were Malachi Crandell and Gabrielle Matthew, and the runners-up in 18-24 were Corissa Bilodeau and Katelin Langford!

Malachi is described in his nomination as a natural born leader. A grade 8 student, younger kids at school look up to him, notice his attention and encouragement. A specific incident caught the attention of the principal who saw Malachi stand up to older kids who tried to bully their way onto the basketball court. Telling them to wait their turn, he spent time with the grade 5 children, supporting their right to play.

Gabrielle will be familiar to you from her Arts Achievement Award. You’ll remember that she wrote an adaptation of “All’s Well that Ends Well” which she mounted at school. Her nomination points out the elements of leadership required to pull off such an ambitious endeavour – persistence, organizational skills, problem solving, diplomacy – and so many more.

Corissa impressed the team at Kawartha Lakes Food Source with her kindness and compassion as she stepped up to support a variety of roles there. One of the most impressive things she did was to accept the role of coordinator of the Lindsay Community Food Market where she served vulnerable clientele with respect.

Katelin you’ve met in the Physical Literacy category. As a skip of curling teams for many years, she has had the important role of guiding a group of athletes through months of practice and competitions. She’s valued for her encouragement and mentorship, and as we know, the results speak for themselves as her teams have overcome adversity to achieve success.

Nikita Tamlin

Nikita is recognized as exhibiting the club’s core values inside and outside the Club. Working to create a positive environment at school which encourages participation in activities like spirit days, Nikita’s enthusiasm is infectious. In the classroom she’s respectful and speaks out about injustice. In her role as a sports leader for BGC, Nikita encourages participation and creates a welcoming environment.

Kaylee MacKinnon

Kaylee will happily describe her own journey with the Club from when she first began attending at the age of 3. For the last several years, she has proudly become one of those Club leaders she first looked up to as a child. Kaylee enthusiastically jumps into Club roles – from sports coach to summer camp leader to after school supervisor, embodying the spirit of the Club every day.

Runners-Up

In addition to Nikita Tamlin and Kaylee MacKinnon being our Club Spirit winners, our additional nominees were Alex Schvedenkova in the 12-17 category and Kathryn Elliott in 18-24.

Alex gets a big High Five from the Youth Warehouse team at BGC Kawarthas. New to our program this year, Alex is said to make it a better place. They are the first to volunteer whether to help prep dinner or clean up, or to participate in a new program or workshop. Alex definitely reflects the BGC core values.

Kathryn demonstrates her commitment to Club values in her involvement with the Warehouse and the Keystone Leadership Youth Council. She demonstrates respect and support for others. One of our favourite examples was her effort to learn to speak a bit of Japanese to see what it was like for our Japanese exchange student last year. Kathryn recognizes the importance of listening and giving space to others.

Ron Kennedy Scholarship

Our final Youth Awards winner to announce was the winner of our Ron Kennedy Scholarship, Sophie Kaloudas, who was also nominated for the Humanitarian category.

Sophie observed the effects of COVID-19 in her peers and was concerned about the lack of activities in school once they were back in person. So, she decided to do something about it! The number of initiatives she spearheaded is incredible. Athlete of the Week, Lunchtime Intramurals, Team photos, and an army of volunteer scorekeepers so teams could resume play. The result was a return to fun, active opportunities for her school community. She definitely has the traits that Ron Kennedy would be proud of.

We had eight other strong nominees – Katelin Langford and Abbey Williams, our Physical Literacy winners, Calisa Bean and Harrison Smeaton, winners in the Leadership category, Kaylee MacKinnon, winner in the Club Spirit category and the Marcie Beall scholarship, and Amy Lamb and Megan Prouse.

Amy Lamb was recognized last year as one of our Physical Literacy Award winners. Amy is a highly skilled athlete and has participated in a wide range of team sports. She’s a leader on her teams, at her school, and has a positive influence on others. And finally, Megan Prouse who is heavily involved in the agricultural community and 4-H. Last fall she was crowned Ambassador of the Fair for her outstanding leadership.