Photo credit: Rita Taylor

“Bears—especially grizzlies and polar bears—have a reputation as man-eating beasts, but that’s a myth,” says wildlife expert Kim Titchener. “Bears are gracious to the humans living in their territories.” 

Although Kim had a childhood fascination with bears, she couldn’t have predicted how closely her life would become intertwined with these giant carnivores.

“I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do when I finished high school,” says Kim, who’s originally from Pickering, Ontario. “Then I found out about Lakehead’s outdoor recreation program.” 

Lakehead helped steer her towards a career in conservation after a first-year wildlife ethics course spurred her to apply for a summer job as a wildlife interpreter at the Banff National Park.

“I also liked the idea of being in a place where grizzly bears shared space with humans,” she says.

Kim worked at the park every summer while she was a Lakehead student. Then, in 2004, after receiving an Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation and a Bachelor of Arts in History, she returned to Banff once again. She was assigned to a team responsible for breaking up “bear jams” caused by motorists pulling over on roads to watch and photograph bears they spotted, often getting too close.

“My job was to track bears in order to protect both them and humans.” 

One of Kim’s first calls was to help move a female grizzly named Bear 66 from a campground where she was eating an elk calf. Grizzlies are very defensive of their kills, so it was a dangerous situation. Park staff set off flares and bear bangers to scare her away. Kim parked her vehicle across a road by the campground and directed traffic to prevent Bear 66, who also had three tiny cubs, from being hit by a car.

This grizzly was given a GPS collar to monitor her movements.

“I’d never seen a grizzly before. Then, suddenly, this furry congealing ball of fat came barreling towards me,” Kim says. “She ran right past my truck—it was love at first sight for me.”

But Kim’s first grizzly encounter soon turned to tragedy. Bear 66 was struck by a train, leaving her cubs motherless. Two of the cubs were killed almost immediately. Kim followed the remaining cub on foot for a day to keep it from danger until park staff were able to capture it.

“It was hard enough when the mother died, but spending time with a mourning cub was incredibly difficult. It was crying and making distress noises because it couldn’t find its mother or its siblings.”

Unfortunately, many bears are killed by trains or euthanized after getting into people’s food. Others are euthanized after attacking humans.

“Bear attacks are rare, but they’re increasing as people continue to encroach into wild areas without the skills to safely coexist with these animals,” Kim says. “Although bears can kill us any time they want, they almost never do. Seeing them lose their lives because of humans made me want to conserve them.”

Kim’s wildlife expertise grew quickly, prompting the Town of Canmore to ask her to develop a program to reduce conflict between wild animals and humans. The result was the public education program WildSmart, which she successfully ran for 10 years.

“Then, I got a call from the oil and gas industry to create a wildlife safety course for their workers and decided to start my company Bear Safety & More.” 

After earning her outdoor recreation and history degrees, Kim completed a Bachelor of Education in 2005. "I encourage people to follow their passion to a career that is satisfying and makes the world a better place," she says. In this photo Kim helps relocate a grizzly.

The company now delivers courses to many industries, including forestry and tourism, as well as to governments and private agencies. In addition, Kim has done bear hazard assessments for National Geographic expeditions and cruise lines—journeying by boat to remote areas of Canada and Alaska—and collaborated with Polar Bears International on the first polar bear hazard assessment for a community in Canada. 

 “I travel all over Canada and the United States teaching wildlife courses on bear, cougar, elk, moose, and wolf safety.”

Kim’s conservation and wildlife safety contributions were honoured in 2023 when she received a Roland Michener Conservation Award.

“If we don’t teach people to love and respect bears, they will become extinct,” she says. “I want to stop this from happening and increase the bear population to a healthier level.”

Check out some of the online courses and free workshops that Kim offers through her website recsafewithwildlife.com.

Omer Belisle has been shaping the minds and spirits of youngsters for almost 30 years. 

He’s been a committed coach, teacher, vice-principal, and principal with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board (TBCDSB) and, for the past 12 years, he’s been superintendent of education overseeing the TBCDSB’s Kindergarten - Grade 8 and Student Achievement departments.

“I’m also the math lead, the Indigenous lead, the mental health lead, the French lead, and the equity and inclusion lead,” Omer explains.

It’s a heavy workload, but Omer is unfazed by the many responsibilities he shoulders.

“My parents were instrumental in instilling a strong work ethic in me and my siblings. They encouraged us to always better ourselves. Moreover, I’m fortunate to be part of a talented leadership team—it’s wonderful to go to work with them each day,” he says.

Omer was born in Nipigon, Ontario, and is a member of the Red Rock Indian Band. His family later moved to Thunder Bay where Omer attracted attention as a first-rate minor hockey player. After attending St. Ignatius High School, he played with the Barrie Colts for two years before being recruited to play varsity hockey for Bemidji State University in Minnesota. He’s also played with the Thunder Bay Flyers and the Thunder Bay Senators hockey teams.

“The commitment and discipline of being a student athlete is excellent training for any profession,” Omer says, “and I enjoyed being there for my teammates.”

He completed an education degree at Bemidji, a decision that was influenced by his hockey career.

“I had some coaches who were great mentors to me, and several of them were teachers. Dave Siciliano and Dave Bragnalo in Thunder Bay and Bob Peters at Bemidji State all steered me in the direction of coaching and teaching.” 

In 1995, Omer returned to Ontario to teach with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board where his first job was a grade 3-4 split class at St. Jude’s School.

“I will never forget the bonds I formed with students and colleagues at St. Jude’s. It was very special.” 

Over the following years, Omer was busy working, raising a family, and coaching his two sons’ hockey teams. But in 2010, he felt that he’d come to a crossroads and needed to push himself in a new direction.

“I remember the day I decided to get my Master of Education at Lakehead. I was working at Corpus Christi school when Superintendent of Business Tom Mustapic asked me if I’d ever thought about administration—it was his pat on the back that motivated me to go back to school.”

Lakehead introduced Omer to professors and fellow students whose shared goals would later help him implement projects at the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board in areas close to his heart, such as Indigenous education. Through Omer’s leadership, the TBCDSB has expanded its Ojibway language programs and the availability of Indigenous counsellors.

“In addition, we’ve expanded mental health access with the help of Katie Matthews, our mental health lead,” Omer adds.

One of his proudest accomplishments is the opening of a satellite kindergarten class on the Fort William First Nation. The kindergarten, an extension of Thunder Bay’s St. Ann Elementary School, is the first of its kind in Canada.

“It gives kids comfort, a sense of belonging, and accessibility. Now, if a family from the community chooses, their four-year-old child doesn’t have a long bus ride to school.”

These kinds of initiatives give Omer a sense of purpose.

“As a superintendent, you’re able to make system changes, and that really drives me.”

In her valedictory speech as this year’s “Voice of the Class” at Lakehead Orillia’s convocation ceremony, Leah Yari shared an important and, perhaps, personal lesson with her fellow graduates:

"Although we all have an idea of the path we have shaped for ourselves, it's important to not get too caught up in what is planned. Being open to change and diversity can lead to growth we might not have been aware of in the present moment."

Growing up, Leah dreamed of becoming a professional dancer. Then, in her final year of secondary school, she had to choose  between pursuing a professional dance career or university studies. She thought she had found a way to do both. She would continue dancing while studying kinesiology at Wilfrid Laurier University, well known for its reputable dance team.

But Leah soon realized that she was not passionate about kinesiology. She spoke with a career counsellor and completed personality and aptitude tests, which revealed that she had a much stronger affinity for business and finance careers.

This came as no surprise to Leah, whose mother has been a successful businessperson. 

“My mom has always been the breadwinner in our family,” she says. “I have always been inspired by her, that she was able to support her family and be in a leadership role in finance.” 

Leah decided to pursue her Honours Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Global Entrepreneurship and Business Administration, at a much smaller institution—Lakehead University – Orillia.

“I love the feel of a small university, the extra attention from instructors, and I was able to stay at home,” she says.

“People ask me if I have had trouble finding jobs because Lakehead may not be considered a target school (an institution with a high number of finance hires), and I say, 'No, not at all. I wouldn’t have changed my experience.'”

Leah also says that studying at a smaller university gave her more unique experiences and the chance to get to know other professionals and instructors.

Dr. Isaam Dawood, for instance, left a lasting impression and has remained a support and a mentor.

“Dr. Dawood’s classes are very collaborative,” says Leah. "The lectures were discussion based, no PowerPoint presentations. And I felt my opinion was heard.” 

Another critical part of Leah’s experience in Lakehead’s business program was the Business Orillia Student Society (BOSS). Leah served in several executive roles with BOSS throughout her studies—as public relations officer, vice-president, and president. She says BOSS provided her with valuable opportunities to learn and network. 

“This puts you ahead when you’re applying for jobs. I think networking with professionals in the industry is what helped me find a job so quickly.”

Having worked in banking, and now underwriting for an insurance company in Toronto, Leah says she will continue to look for opportunities to grow in the world of finance and make meaningful contributions. 

“It’s important to me to continue to give back, creating community. And it’s important to surround yourself with people who push you to be a better version of yourself.”

“Poetry has always come very naturally to me,” Ash Winters says. “It’s the primary way that my mind thinks—it’s my comfort zone.” 

Ash is an emerging poet whose work has appeared in Existere and Open Minds Quarterly and, in 2021, their first volume of poetry, Run Riot, was released.

Ash spent most of their childhood in Tweed, Ontario, and even as a youngster, dreamed of being a writer.

“I remember climbing trees to write in a little notebook, even though words didn’t come easily for me because I had learning disabilities.” 

By high school, Ash was scribbling poetry in the margins of their school binder. It had become part of Ash’s daily life and a powerful way to process emotions and explore identity.

“Being queer influences the way I see the world and the way I make art,” Ash explains. “It gives me the perspective to see the differences between people as well as how we’re all the same.”

“It seems like we are making progress in accepting queerness,” they add, “and that gives me the energy to work to make things better for the next generation, but there’s also some pushback, which is scary.” 

When it came time for university, the solace that Ash found in nature prompted them to enrol in Lakehead’s forestry program. By their second year, however, the pull of the written word became too strong to resist, and they switched to English.

It was a decision Ash didn’t regret. An American poetry class with Dr. Scott Pound introduced them to the Beat poets and the New York School of poets and Ash got involved with The Artery—the English Student Association’s newly established literary magazine. 

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 2010, Ash spent nine years in Vancouver. Most of their time was spent working as a UPS courier before going to trade school for carpentry.

“I also wrote poetry, but I was just getting by,” Ash says.

Complicating the situation was Ash’s struggles with substance use.

“I’d lived with addiction for a long time and then it got to a point where I couldn’t go on anymore. I got sober and wrote my poetry collection.”

Run Riot: Ninety Poems in Ninety Days was written during Ash’s three-month stay at a Vancouver rehab centre. Their publisher describes it as “a work that navigates the intersections of addiction, identity, and trauma.” 

The Toronto Star praised the volume as “frank, touching, and sometimes wryly humorous.”

For Ash, finally being able to ask for help turned their life around. “It made me able to pursue my writing and become a good member of my community.”

Ash now combines writing poetry with carpentry—they work for a small contractor in Toronto doing home renovations, where they now live.

“I wake up at 5 am and work on my poetry for two hours and then go to my contracting job.”

Ash describes their poetry as emotionally evocative with a plainspokenness that makes it accessible, like “Day 61,” a poem from Run Riot.

Day 61

Made sense

I made it make sense

I gave the fire truck shape to the cloud

and it was shaped a bit like a fire truck

but it was never going to put this fire out

never going to get me to climb down from this tree

Took the language that the instructions were yelled in

and translated it into words that could be said calmly

Accent so thick

I use it for a diving board

so I could plunge right into deeper meanings

so thick that when anyone talks anywhere now

I can understand it

I use it as a lever to lift ten times my weight

well over my head

but I still can’t stand the sound of it

The space it takes up in me makes me want to rip myself to shreds 

start over

make myself make sense again 

You can purchase a copy of Run Riot from Chapters, Amazon, your local bookstore, or from Ash’s publisher at: https://caitlinpress.com/Books/R/Run-Riot

“The social safety net isn’t giving people the support they need,” Eden Schwartz says, “and with the housing crisis and inflation, things are becoming even worse.” 

Eden, who grew up in Toronto, is currently a community outreach worker at the Orillia Public Library.

“The position appealed to me because it was brand new and I could shape it according to the community’s needs,” she says. “I also wanted to get out of Toronto because I love hiking and biking and being out in nature.”

Social workers have become more common in libraries as people increasingly turn to them for information about housing, food insecurity, and substance use. People are also relying on libraries in greater numbers for shelter and washroom facilities.

Eden’s path to social work may seem a bit unorthodox. Before going to Lakehead, she earned a BA in Environment and Development from McGill University.

“Climate change is one of the biggest problems of my generation, which is why I chose McGill’s program. It was while there that I learned about eco-psychology, which looks at the intersection of mental health and the environment.”

Eco-psychologists support individuals who’ve been devastated by catastrophic events—like losing homes to earthquakes—as well as people suffering from chronic climate change anxiety and sadness about the disappearance of parts of our natural world.

While at McGill, Eden also volunteered with their student nightline.

“It played a part in my decision to study social work,” Eden says, “but I’d always been curious about it—not just one-on-one therapy, but also macro-social work aimed at helping communities. This encompasses activities such as taking part in environmental protests or women’s marches. It’s about ‘social’ work.”

After completing her social work courses at Lakehead, Eden did a placement with the Salvation Army in Toronto as part of her degree requirements. She joined the charity’s emergency disaster services department where she researched ways to provide better psychological first aid to people in the aftermath of disasters. 

“Debriefing someone after a trauma is complex. If it’s not done well, it can cause more harm than good,” Eden says.

She spent the last part of her placement at a Salvation Army women’s shelter. Then, after graduation, she became a community services crisis worker at Toronto’s WoodGreen Community Services before joining the Orillia Public Library in October 2022.

“I do a mix of programming and one-on-one direct services to help individuals access community services, such as mental health and housing services. I also train staff to respond to issues that come up when people visit the library.” 

Eden is especially proud of a recent $20,000 grant she and a co-worker secured from the Shoppers Foundation for Women’s Health to combat period poverty. The funding is allowing the library to stock their bathrooms with pads and tampons provided free of charge and to assemble kits containing pads, tampons, and health information that are available at the library and other Orillia locations.

Although Eden is a skilled social worker, she thinks it’s a mistake to look solely to her fellow professionals and government agencies to solve societal challenges.

“It’s even more important to seek out the opinions of people who’ve had lived experiences with things like opioid use and housing insecurity, but often they’re ignored instead of listened to,” Eden says.

“I’d like to see that change.”

Last July, Emmalee (Emm) Agnew and Terry Milne took their one-year-old son Cedar on his first Yukon expedition—a voyage snaking along the Pelly River past mountains where wolf packs, moose, and grizzly bears roamed.

It was glorious, but it wasn’t easy.

“Imagine a beautiful summer where the sun shines all day and all night and you’re trying to put your baby to sleep in a hot tent that feels like a greenhouse,” Emm says. “We had a lot of sleepless nights on that trip.”

Since then, they’ve been on shorter outings closer to their Whitehorse home and the couple is planning to take Cedar on another long expedition this summer.

“We have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows on those trips,” Terry says. “It forces us out of our comfort zone.”

Pictured right: Terry, Emm, and Cedar
“I want to give a huge shout out to Lakehead professor Dr. Julie Rosenthal,” Terry says. “She put so much energy and effort into creating incredible outdoor experiences. I was so thankful to have her as a professor, mentor, and friend.” 

Despite the hardships, they’re well prepared for the wilderness. Both Terry and Emm received Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation and Bachelor of Education degrees in 2013. Emm also completed a Bachelor of Science, focusing on natural resources, in 2012.

But how did these two Lakehead grads end up making their home in Canada’s Far North?

Several Lakehead classmates originally from the Yukon often talked about how amazing it was.

“Then, the winter after we graduated, an outdoor education gig in Whitehorse came up and we both applied for it,” Terry says.

Neither of them got the job, but they decided to move anyway.     

“The following January, we packed up my great-grandma’s Ford Focus—filled with venison we’d harvested in Thunder Bay—and left,” Emm says. 

Their gamble paid off. They’re now teachers in the city of Whitehorse—Terry at Porter Creek Secondary School and Emm at Golden Horn Elementary School. 

“It’s tucked away in the woods and has a big focus on skiing, hiking, and getting children out on the land starting when they’re five years old,” Emm says.

Pictured left:  Emm walking in a river.

Lakehead’s partnership with Charles Sturt University in Australia allowed Emm to study there during her third year of university. “On campus, we lived in mud houses with composting toilets and used an eco-friendly hot-water system that used the sun to heat the water.”

Still, it’s a bit surprising that two people who grew up in southern Ontario ended up somewhere so remote. Emm’s parents are dairy farmers in the Ottawa Valley and Terry’s family had a hobby farm not far from Peterborough with highland cattle and draft horses.

Emm and Terry, though, felt an attraction to the wild at a young age.

“Every summer, my family visited my great-aunt and uncle in Kenora, Ontario,” Terry says. “I discovered that I loved the north and being outdoors. Then, in grade 11, I found out about Lakehead’s Outdoor Recreation program.”

Emm’s first contact with the wilderness came through her high school’s Outers Club as well as through outdoor research programming the school offered called OSPREY.

“We did projects like chickadee banding,” she says. 

This, combined with summer jobs such as tree planting and working as a Ministry of Natural Resources firefighter and Ontario Ranger sparked the idea of studying outdoor recreation. 

“Also, one of my older sisters, Kelsey, raved about Lakehead’s Outdoor Recreation program,” Emm says. 

During their time at Lakehead, a two-week trip to Northern Ontario’s vast Wabakimi Provincial Park was a highlight for Emm and Terry, but for Terry, it held particular significance.

“It was really magical. My dad was sick with cancer at the time, and I didn’t know if I should go, but my parents convinced me that I should. My dad passed away while I was in Wabakimi, and throughout the trip, I had experiences that connected me to him.”

Terry was reminded of a past family vacation to Kenora when he and his father paddled across a lake to explore an eagle’s nest. 

“Often, on the Lakehead Wabakimi trip, I’d wake up in the morning and there’d be an eagle flying overhead. It was like having the warm presence of my dad with me.” 

Pictured right: Terry on an expedition.
After graduating from Lakehead, Emm (HBOR/BSc’12, BEd’13) worked as a forest firefighter in Ontario and Terry (HBOR/BEd’13) as a raft guide in Jasper, Alberta.

Emm and Terry are now well settled in their teaching careers and enjoying instilling confidence in young people.

“I’m very fortunate to run outdoor programs for grades 9-11 students, including canoeing, backpacking, whitewater rafting, and water rescue trips,” Terry says. “These programs respect First Nations ways of doing and learning and empower youth to explore their territory.”

Terry has also created the Wilderness Initiatives for Leadership Development (WILD) program for grade 11 and 12 students, which gives students the certifications needed to apply for outdoor guiding jobs.

“At the end of February, my WILD students co-led a bison hunt and they’re now planning their own year-end expedition.”

“His passion and dedication to WILD is incredible,” Emm adds. “Terry is much more than your average teacher.”

Emm is now in her seventh year at Golden Horn where she’s taught phys ed, music, and outdoor education as well as grade 2 and 3 classes.

“This year, I’m providing one-on-one and small group learning assistance for students in grades 2, 4, 6, and 7 in reading and writing skills development.”

It’s not only the grandeur of the Yukon that keeps Terry and Emm there.

“The first people to drop off food at our house when Emm left the hospital after having Cedar were two of my students,” Terry says. “Not many 17-year-olds would do that—it’s those kinds of connections that make Yukon home for us.”

A few months ago, Clifford Mushquash was on the edge of Red Sea in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh.

He was attending the United Nations’ COP 27 Climate Change Conference as a member of the delegation sent by KAIROS (a Canadian ecumenical organization that supports ecological justice and human rights). Clifford—a Master of Public Health student specializing in Indigenous and Northern Health and a member of Pays Plat First Nation from Sioux Lookout, Ontario—says that COP 27 gave him a different way to look at health issues. 

“It was a phenomenal experience that will influence the work I do at the community level for a very long time to come. 

The talks and sessions I went to were so fascinating, including a water session in the Canadian pavilion led by Indigenous women. I was also able to sit in on some of the climate negotiations.”

Pictured right:  KAIROS For the Love of Creation delegates representing the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Colombia, Kuwait, Palestine, and Canada, arrive at COP27. “I was pinching myself when I found out that I’d been selected to go to because I’m new to climate justice conversations,” Clifford says.

KAIROS chose Clifford because he’s certified to lead their Blanket Exercise, an initiative KAIROS developed to encourage truth and reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Clifford describes the Blanket Exercise as a participatory workshop that explores the history of Turtle Island, an area that extends from the Arctic to Mexico. 

Pictured left:  Clifford (in orange shirt) leads a sharing circle following the KAIROS Blanket Exercise at Naama Bay, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. 

“It’s a story of loss, violence, and exploitation as well as a story of resilience and strength that’s presented in a non-judgmental, objective way,” Clifford says. “Participants are put into the place of the people of Turtle Island and blankets are used to represent the land. Every exercise ends with a sharing circle discussing what we as individuals can do to advance reconciliation.”

Clifford became a facilitator in 2018 and says that it’s made him better able to understand his family and his clients. 

His concern for others emerged early—Clifford was an active member of many youth and community groups. As an adult, he’s volunteered with organizations including the Rotary Club, the Canadian Cancer society, the Ontario HIV Network, the Outside Looking In mentorship program for Indigenous students, Skate Canada, and the John Howard Society. His strong sense of compassion is similarly evident in his career path. Prior to his Lakehead studies, Clifford worked in the mental health and addictions fields doing administrative and frontline work. 

“I’ve been employed at Health Canada, the Meno Ya Win Health Centre hospital in Sioux Lookout, the Sioux Lookout Health Authority, and an emergency shelter.” 

Clifford decided to build on his expertise by enrolling in two Lakehead degree programs and, in May 2020, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and an Honours Bachelor of Social Work. He was also able to balance school with employment as an administrative assistant in Lakehead’s Indigenous Language Teacher’s Diploma Program. “I enjoyed helping students from across the north who are committed to revitalizing Indigenous languages,” he says.

It was while doing his social work degree, however, that a professor suggested Clifford consider Lakehead’s Master of Public Health program after reading a paper Clifford had written about health inequities in the north. 

“I wasn’t sure it if was the right degree for me,” Clifford says, “but Elder Gerry Martin told me that Creator never gives us a journey we aren’t prepared to undertake. I also liked that it looks at health issues from a broad perspective, including food security, poverty, and housing.” 

Once Clifford finishes his master’s degree, he’s committed to advancing the health of First Nations Peoples and communities. “Wherever that happens to be,” he says, “that’s where I’ll go.” 

Silas Young was a third-year commerce student when the COVID pandemic was at its darkest. 

The crisis spurred him to ease people’s loneliness and isolation by founding a non-profit called ASSIST (Assisting International Students Together) so that he could provide meals and a sense of community for international students on Lakehead’s Thunder Bay campus.

Pictured left:  Silas (on right) lends a hand at the 2021 Welcome Home Dinner for Lakehead international students.

Pictured right:  In December 2022, ASSIST was able to host a sit-down dinner for students at the Chanterelle restaurant. “Yutong Liu, a Master of Science in Kinesiology student at Lakehead has helped me run the dinner every year,” Silas explains. “She was essential to its success this year.”

“The main thing we do is host a welcome home holiday dinner at the end of the fall term—most international students can’t afford to go home for the holidays, and they’re missing the love and support of their families,” he says. 

Juggling volunteer work and schoolwork comes easily to Silas. It’s the reason he was given the 2022 Robert Poulin Award for outstanding citizenship—an honour presented annually to a full-time Lakehead student. He also received the 2022 Ingenuity Award from Lakehead’s business incubator, Ingenuity, which mentors Lakehead students as they take their start-up ideas from concept to launch.

“As a young person, volunteer work is the best way to get out in the community and find responsibilities that enable you learn,” says Silas, who now serves on the Ingenuity board.

Pictured left:  Silas grew up in a small town in Newfoundland, except for his kindergarten year when his family lived in Thunder Bay. Silas’s happy memories of Northwestern Ontario later convinced him to apply to Lakehead for his university studies.

Soon after arriving in Thunder Bay from Newfoundland, Silas connected with business professor Dr. Mike Dohan who introduced him to Enactus Lakehead, the local chapter of an international entrepreneurship club that uses business as a catalyst for positive social and environmental change.

“That started everything,” Silas says.

He arrived at a crucial point in the club’s history according to Alyson MacKay, the manager of Ingenuity.

“Over the years, the Enactus club had lost some of its steam, but Silas revived it thanks to his strong leadership skills.”

When he became club president in his second year, Silas increased membership numbers by recruiting students from different faculties—like nursing and the sciences—instead of exclusively from the business faculty. He also helped a club member secure Lakehead’s first Enactus Canada accelerator grant.

In addition, Silas launched a financial literacy workshop series for Indigenous students called Getting Financially Lit because, he says, “financial literacy gives you the potential to do what you want to do, and Indigenous youth face more obstacles than non-Indigenous youth.”

“Some strides are being made to improve financial literacy in Canada, but for marginalized and at-risk groups, we’re still far off,” Silas adds.

The Getting Financially Lit project placed second both regionally and nationally in the annual Enactus competition.

“We beat the University of Toronto team even though we only had 10 team members and they had 200.”

Silas’s financial literacy work hasn’t focused solely on the young. He and Chris Morrill, who is currently a Master of Science in Management student at Lakehead, started online financial literacy training for Canadians over the age of 65.

Since graduating from Lakehead in 2022, Silas has been working as a business and writing instructor at Oshki-Pimache-O-Win (Oshki)—an Indigenous institute committed to increasing postsecondary education completion rates for Nishnawbe Aski Nation people and other learners.

“Oshki is like an extended family, which is especially important for students coming from remote communities,” Silas explains.

He’s also continuing to pursue his educational goals—Silas spends evenings and weekends studying for the Immigration and Citizenship Law Graduate Diploma offered by Queen’s University.

“It’s a one-year online program that will allow me to become a licensed immigration consultant. Once I’m licensed, I plan to start an immigration consulting business.”

In the meantime, Silas enjoys volunteering for local events and participating in the St. John’s Ambulance therapy dog program with his dog Piper.

“It’s fantastic. We go to the Lakehead library and the Student Wellness Centre and wander around campus so that students can cuddle Piper.”

Mature student. Immigrant. Mother. Wife. These are all words Sandy Falcon has used to describe herself. The people around her also know her as a compassionate friend and selfless community leader.

In the middle of COVID and her graduate studies at Lakehead’s Orillia campus, Sandy started Unknown Neighbours. It’s a non-profit that helps temporary foreign workers in Canada. Her goal was to reach out to people who are often lonely and vulnerable and to assist them with accessing legal, social, and health services.

In November 2021, for instance, Unknown Neighbours made life a little easier for Mexican and Jamaican workers arriving in Simcoe County to work on Christmas tree farms. Sandy and her colleagues greeted them with welcome bags filled with personal care items and non-perishable food as well as information about community resources. In addition, they encouraged the public to donate winter coats and workwear to the labourers, many of whom were unprepared for the frigid Canadian winter.

The organization—which operates in the Simcoe, York, Dufferin, and Grey-Bruce Counties—offers foreign workers a central location where they can meet their peers and unknown neighbours and forge a sense of belonging.

Sandy herself is originally from Ecuador. Her family settled in Canada when she was just a year old, although she spent a lot of time in Ecuador throughout her childhood. By the time Sandy finished high school, however, she was living in Toronto’s low-income Jane and Finch neighbourhood.

“Postsecondary education wasn't a possibility for me,” Sandy says, “I had to get a job right away.”

She worked hard for many years, but she also yearned for a more fulfilling life so at the age of 35, the mother of four quit her job as an office administrator to earn a law clerk diploma at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario.

“I loved being at school, however, I soon realized that I didn’t want to be a law clerk,” Sandy says, “so I applied to Lakehead's criminology program.”

Then in her first year, she chose an experiential learning course in political science that allowed her to volunteer with a non-profit called Dress for Success.

“It supports women who are unemployed or reentering the workforce by providing business clothes, training, and mentoring to get them comfortable to go on interviews and start their positions,” Sandy says.

She continued to volunteer with the non-profit after the placement was over and she’s now the chair of the Barrie Chapter of Dress for Success. It was an experience that prompted Sandy to enroll in Lakehead’s Master of Social Justice program, which she completed in June 2022 with first class standing. 

Pictured at right: Sandy Falcon (BA’20/HBASc’20/MA’22) says that she hopes to maintain her connection with Lakehead University.

Given her academic achievements and community spirit, it made perfect sense that Sandy was selected to be the 2022 Voice of the Class and speak on behalf of her fellow students at Lakehead Orillia’s convocation ceremonies, but she herself was shocked.

“Hearing that I was someone to look up to really floored me. I couldn’t believe that I was chosen,” Sandy says.

She’s continuing her relationship with Lakehead and recently worked with fellow social justice grads and students to train City of Orillia staff on fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Right now, Sandy is most excited about being hired by the Red Cross—the largest humanitarian organization in the world—as the lead for a pilot project that supports older people.

“My goal is to help people,” Sandy says. “That’s what I always told anyone who asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

Read more inspirational news and stories in Champions of Change—Lakehead’s 2021-22 Annual Report.

Make the sentence above link to the annual report website: https://www.lakeheadu.ca/championsofchange

Even as a child, Brian Adams felt a personal obligation to do whatever he could to protect the environment from the destruction caused by humans.

Now he’s the co-founder of Salient Energy, a start-up company supporting a rapid transition to clean energy by providing a scalable alternative to lithium-ion with affordable zinc-ion batteries.

Brian’s love of nature is part of the reason he chose to study at Lakehead where he earned a Chemical Engineering Technology Diploma, an Honours Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, and a Master of Science in Chemistry. He also wanted to move far enough away from his hometown of Mitchell, Ontario, so that he wouldn’t be tempted to return every weekend, while allowing him to appreciate everything Northwestern Ontario has to offer.

“Being an outdoorsman, I loved my time in Thunder Bay, particularly ice fishing,” he says.

Brian’s training with Professor Aicheng Chen started him on his path to creating a better battery.

“I received a tremendous foundation in electrochemistry at Lakehead University,” he says.

After graduating, Brian went to the University of Waterloo to get a PhD in Chemistry, which is where he met Salient Energy’s co-founder, Ryan Brown. It was near the end of his PhD that Brian started exploring aqueous, or water-based, batteries that could be produced in an open atmosphere.

Pictured right: Rendering of a prismatic cell format battery that Salient plans to produce when they go into full-scale production. They are currently producing pouch format batteries.

“After seeing some early performance results on the zinc-ion battery, I was hooked and knew that this is one alternative battery that the world needs,” Brian says.

The pair developed a technology for zinc-ion batteries that can be recharged thousands of times and launched Salient Energy in 2017.

Since then, they’ve grown from only three employees, including themselves, to 30 full-time employees with a 24,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and a team in Oakland, California. The North American market will be their starting point and they anticipate doubling or tripling their workforce in the coming years to meet demand.

“We plan to scale up the manufacturing of zinc-ion battery cells and modules by setting up gigafactories. This is the only way for this battery technology to have a meaningful impact,” Brian says, adding that batteries are good for the environment because they are accelerating the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

Pictured left:  Brian Adams says that “the engineering diploma that Lakehead offered attracted me because I was indecisive about going to college or university when I was in high school.”

Salient batteries could be used in several different ways, but generally they are best suited for stationary energy storage applications rather than electric vehicles or consumer electronics.

One application would be as backup power in homes instead of gas generators, which will also benefit the environment by not using gas. Another application is as commercial batteries for “peak shaving,” which levels out peaks in electricity use.

“With a large battery and predictions of times of high electricity usage, companies can use the battery to cut down on the amount of electricity required from the grid,” Brian explains.

This would save businesses massive amounts of money on electricity bills and benefit grid utility companies because “peak” electricity loads put a strain on the infrastructure, often causing outages when cables and transformers are not large enough to accommodate the electric current.

Read more inspirational news and stories in Champions of Change—Lakehead’s 2021-22 Annual Report.

https://www.lakeheadu.ca/championsofchange