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Did you know that May 1-7 is National Youth Week? With a week dedicated to the celebration of youth and their active participation in their community, there couldn’t be a better time for ROI to highlight the youth included in the 2017 Youth Engagement Showcase.

From volunteering with Agricultural Fairs to raising money to build homes with Habitat for Humanity, the young people featured in the 2017 Youth Engagement Showcase are shining examples of teens and young adults who care about their communities and are committed to giving back.

The youth included in this year’s Showcase are: Kayla Bishop; Emily Davis; Lindsay Forbes; Josh Morrison; Aaron Neeb; Meaghan Richardson; Stephanie Robertson; Dylan Sher; Simon Southwell; Jentje Steenbeek; Kora Wilcox; and Blair Williamson. Click here to read about the achievements and accomplishments of each of these young people.

For the 2017 Youth Engagement Showcase, ROI decided to run things a bit differently from the previous year. You will notice the lack of the word ‘winner’ with this year’s Showcase. We believe that all youth who are invested in their communities deserve to be recognized and revised the 2017 Youth Engagement Showcase to highlight all of the young people who were nominated.

Of course, incentives never hurt, so an early bird prize was offered. Two of the nominees, Jentje Steenbeek from Bayfield, and  Kora Wilcox from Elliot Lake, were selected by the Youth Engagement Showcase Advisory Committee to attend the ROMA speaks conference in late January to share their stories on a panel discussion, entitled Counteracting Youth Out-Migration. You can view a highlight video here, or the full panel presentation here. We also randomly selected four names and made a $200 donation to a charity of their choosing.

The Rural Ontario Institute is thrilled to honour these involved youth. And while National Youth Week is a great time to promote the accomplishments and achievements of these young people, we will be providing more in-depth profiles about each of the nominees throughout the year, both here on the ROI blog and in our newsletter, so stay tuned!