Eight outstanding students are part of the #2019SLSquad!

UCalgary adds two new students to their hub. The first is École Secondaire Notre Dame High School (based in Reed Deer, AB) alum Allison Guthrie. The founder of her school’s science club, she also maintained the highest GPA amongst her class of 500+ students every semester. Joining Allison is engienering student Elian Dupre Sarmiento from Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy in Canmore, AB. Elian is the second winner from his high school – Alina Arvisais previously won the SLS in 2017 at Waterloo. Elian spent two years on his school’s iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine) team, which culminated in a competition bringing the world’s best synthetic biology projects to Boston. His team won the Chairman’s Award competing against 356 international high school, undergraduate, and graduate level teams.

UVic is also adding two new Squad members. This year’s science recipient is Elise Coates from Wellington Secondary School in Nanaimo, BC. Elise is the second winner from her high school. Paul Kim previously won at UVic in 2013. Elise is a proud leader in her community. She has taught elementary students about Vancouver Island’s seashores through the local Seashore Program and is also a soccer coach for the Nanaimo United Football Club’s Little Kickers program for kids aged 4-6. UVic’s engineering recipient is also a community leader. Sacha Stipec, from Elphinstone Secondary School in Gibsons, BC, started the Elphinstone Badminton Club. She wrangled a community coach, coordinated the club with the Principal and Athletics Department, arranged practice times, booked the gym, grew membership and arranged equipment.

Waterloo is adding four members to their Squad. For the 8th consecutive year they received the highest number of scholarship applications, in turn allowing them to award two additional schoalrships. Jason Alaee from Ancaster High in Ancaster, ON is pursuing a degree in math. As a maker and electronics hobbyist, he found it hard to get quality tools and parts at a reasonable price. That’s why he started his own company, Diy5.ca, to tackle this problem. Diy5 makes the affordability of international suppliers accessible to western markets. Zeel B. Patel from Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School in Brandon, MB, is pursuing a degree in science. Crocus Plains grad Paige Froese previously won the SLS in 2013 at USask. In December 2018, Zeel hosted her high school’s very first Exploring Careers in STEM for Girls workshop, which was a week-long initiative to educate a greater number of girls about the STEM fields of study. Engineering student Evangeline Dryburgh also joins the Squad. She was nominated by Campbellford District High School in Campbellford, ON. Evangeline gained a black belt in karate when she was just 13 years old. In addition to this achievement, she also considers her volunteer work with the Bridge Hospice to be one of her greatest accomplishments. Shahed Saleh will also be studying engineering while at Waterloo. Nominated by Vincent Massey Secondary School in Windsor, ON, she has a passion for designing robots. Completing a co-op as a St.Clair College robotics research student, she designed, 3D printed, coded and reported on mechanisms to be used for industrial robots at international manufacturing plants. 

Welcome to the Squad! We look forward to having you as part of our SL Network!