What happens when students are trusted to make real decisions that impact their community? At St. Thomas Aquinas High School, members of the Youth in Philanthropy (YIP) group are discovering that their voices and their compassion can make a meaningful difference.
On May 27, the chapel at St. Thomas Aquinas High School welcomed students, families, community organizations, and local leaders for the 18th Annual Youth in Philanthropy Granting Celebration hosted by the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Community Foundation. The celebration marked the culmination of months of student research, discussion, site visits, and collaboration as students awarded grants to local charities serving the community in different ways.
Grade 12 student Laura McNulty, who served as one of the student co-MCs for the ceremony, said the experience helped open her eyes to the needs around her.
“It taught me to be more conscious of everything that’s happening around me and in my community in the way that other people and things happening to them can affect me too,” shared McNulty.
Throughout the program, students carefully reviewed organizations and discussed how funding could have the greatest impact across the community.
“When we were picking them out, we were really trying to go for each doing a different thing and helping the community in a different way,” said McNulty. “I hope these grants will help better the community and make everyone’s lives just a little bit easier.”
For fellow Grade 12 student Brad Ngaya, the program offered a completely new perspective on both learning and community involvement.
“What I learned from this is actually like opening a new eye,” said Ngaya. “Being involved in this helped me out in my education because I started looking at different things from different ways.”
Ngaya said the group worked hard to consider different perspectives and ensure the grants would support a wide range of community needs.
“We wanted to make sure we were looking at everyone’s struggles and making the right decisions because these grants do a lot for the community,” he shared.
This year, the St. Thomas Aquinas High School Youth in Philanthropy group awarded grants to:
Kenora Fellowship Centre
Women’s Place Kenora
Kenora District Festival of the Arts
Iggy’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
McNulty says giving back has always been important to her and hopes more students will consider joining the program in the future.
“Especially if you are in the position to give back, that you always should, even if it’s only a little bit,” she said. “I think every dollar counts. Even the smallest actions can make the biggest impact on people’s lives.”
As he prepares to graduate, Ngaya hopes other students will continue getting involved in Youth in Philanthropy and experience the same personal growth he found through the program.
“I hope more youth get into it,” he shared. “It’ll really help them out in their education and open new things for them, the same way it opened new things for me.”
The annual Youth in Philanthropy program is supported by the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Community Foundation with ongoing financial support from Northern Credit Union.
