This has been a banner week for the recognition of Manitoulin Island youth in the fields of math, science, innovation and technology and is a testament to the hard work and dedication of Island teachers and their students.
It is a rare edition of The Expositor that goes to print not containing some indication of the accomplishments of Manitoulin Island students and young adults in technology of some form. These accomplishments have stretched back for generations. In the not too distant past Islanders will recall the years of the Manitoulin Secondary School Science Olympiad teams, whose steady stream of gold medal accomplishments kept our readers spellbound a decade or more ago.
Today’s edition contains stories of yet more youthful accomplishments to bear witness to how our tiny but mighty Island punches well about its weight in fields scientific.
From the incredible accomplishments at Sudbury’s Dynamic Earth of the four LEGO Robotics teams whose members span Island communities, to the recognition of the efforts of the young adult social entrepreneurs like Justin Tilson and the gang at the Northern Ontario Permaculture Institute, whose Premier’s Award for Innovation in the Agri-food Industry clearly establishes Manitoulin Island as being at the forefront of a new generation of agriculturalists, ready to think outside the box and apply leading edge technical solutions to the challenges of our Northern climate to today’s local food industry.
And it isn’t just in the fields of science, math and technology that Island youth are making their mark. The social conscience demonstrated by groups like the Grade 1 and 7 and 8s at Little Current Public School in providing assistance to the hurricane ravaged schools of Texas, or the annual efforts of the Manitoulin Secondary School SHARE committee give us all something to be very proud of.
Manitoulin clearly has never taken a back seat in the fields of science and technology and the latest generations are clearly continuing that tradition thanks to the hard work and dedication of teachers, volunteers, parents and guardians, and above all, the students and youth themselves.
Kudos also to Island municipalities, First Nations and the Rainbow District School Board who have stepped up and thrown their support behind the youth in our communities and provided them with the opportunities which our youth have grasped so securely in their competent hands.
We look forward to the new year when the pages of this paper will undoubtedly continue to chronicle the amazing accomplishments of Manitoulin Island youth as they strive to make this a world a better place.
