4 – Leaders of Tomorrow 2010 Monday, March 29, 2010 — THE MEDICINE HAT NEWS

Lauren Miner is not only a leader of tomorrow, she is a leader of today. Her incredible spirit and giving nature inspires those around her to give of themselves and challenges those who already give to see what more they can do to benefit others. She is truly inspirational. People sit back in awe of her determination and leadership at such a young age. She leads by modeling and teaching others the important value of giving of herself. Lauren is always a natural leader. Her leadership skills extend into all aspects of her life. Lauren takes part in ski and swim club. Often she can be found helping assist, teach and mentor younger students in both clubs. Her academic achievements in school are admirable and she always strives for excellence. Her willingness to give time and share her talents with others maker her a role model for others. At the age of five, Lauren cut her hair and donated it to cancer. Every year, Lauren participates in the Terry Fox run. She helped her dad raise $10, 000 dollars for the run. She has run in the Relay for Life to help benefit cancer. In kindergarten she dedicated her birthday to the SPCA. Instead of presents for herself, Lauren asked her friends to bring donations for the SPCA. This would not be the only time Lauren gave up her own birthday presents to benefit others. In Grade 3, Lauren donated to the Pediatric Ward at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital. Lauren has a disease called pancreatitis. The illness sometimes causes Lauren to be admitted into the hospital. During one attack a few years ago she was turning seven and was in the hospital on her birthday, so she saved up all her birthday money and bought four garbage bags full of toys to give to the other kids in the hospital. She wanted to make sure other kids who stayed in the hospital could try to enjoy it. Lauren was inspired by the idea of helping others kids around the world who don’t have access to education or many supplies. She did this by raising money for UNICEF through a bake sale at school. Lauren invited her classmates over to her house to bake cookies and inspired others to bake cookies. Lauren’s passion resulted in the enthusiastic participation from her classmates and school. The class raised about $350 and other classes carried on with the idea and raised another $200. She uses her passion for volunteerism to encourage others to volunteer. Lauren embodies incredible perseverance, determination, positivity and leadership. She consistently impacts and touches the lives of those around her. For a child with such a debilitating illness to be so active and accomplished is incredibly rare. Medicine Hat is fortunate to have a young person like Lauren who always thinks about and contributes to the well being of others. Lauren has had a positive and lasting impact on our community and world. Lauren will continue to lead others in the future. Her selflessness in giving to others is extremely admirable.

Lauren Miner

Mandy Burton started working part time for Fabutan when she was 18. Prior to that she worked at a Fabutan in Winnipeg, being fresh out of the military. She grew up in cadets, then entered the army hoping to gain an education. After reliazing that while being in the army she would be unable to take advantage of the education being provided, she resigned. She moved to Medicine Hat shortly thereafter, working at Fabutan's Dunmore Road location. In Nov. 2008 she became the manager of our Crescent Heights location at the age of 19. She is self-motivated, independant, intelligent and truly enjoyed by our clients. Now at the age of 20 she continues success as the manager at our Fabutan. She goes above and beyond her call of duty, always assisting not just the company, but others outside of work, on her own personal time. The store receives many compliments from clients about Mandy regularily.

Mandy Burton

Sarah Crooymans is a born and raised Bow Island girl. She is 16 years, in Grade 11, at St. Michael's School Bow Island. Her birthday is March 6, 1993. She is interested/ passionate about many things, some being reading, 4-H, church and sports such as volleyball, basketball, and track and field. Sara is very family-oriented and loves to spend time with her brother, sister, and parents. Sarah's parents are extremely active in volunteering in the community, and thus Sarah has learned from them the value of the volunteering spirit. Not only does Sarah, volunteer a significant amount of her time, but while volunteering is often seen surrounded by smaller children who flock to her because of her innate ability to be an amazing role model. She is a take charge person who will accomplish any tasks set out before her. Her favourite phrases are: "Come on Missy," "Come on Mister," and "Yeah, I can help with that." She has taken a shine to her leadership role and continues to pursue opportunities that teach her to be a better leader, such as the CSLC at Olds this past September and being a delegate to the County of Forty Mile 4-H District. Sarah loves challenges that require taking charge.

Sarah Croomans

Taylor Zeller

Rachel was born in Medicine Hat, and has attended Hillcrest Church all her life. She has been an honor roll student throughout her school years, and is currently in Grade 9 at Medicine Hat High School. She loves animals and enjoys reading, art, and working with children. She may pursue teaching as a career in the future.

Rachel Renner

Taylor is a kind, patient and very generous member of our community. The teachers and staff of her elementary school commented that she would be a wonderful choice for nominee and many just said “Oh, what a good choice!” People of all ages are attracted to her wonderful personality. She tells her mother that she "just loves life," and it is evident in her demeanor in the school community and in her community involvement. She knows that it is important to treat everybody with respect because "if you are kind and respectful toward others, then they will be kind and respectful too." She is a wonderful role model for all those around her. Taylor says that she loves to volunteer because it makes her feel like she is doing something great for the community. She feels proud to know that she can make the community better, just by volunteering. She is very excited to lend a hand to any organization or activity. In our school community she is a dedicated to the Kiwanis Kids through bake sales, Christmas raffles, and community ventures. She is a part of the safety patrol team and has been nominated as the Patroller of the Month. You will never catch her at the cross-walk without a huge smile! She dedicated her time to help in several classrooms through reading buddies and clerical duties. This past winter, she took a lead role in helping to make and distribute ribbons as a fundraiser for Haiti. She helped students in Kindergarten to Grade 6 get excited about doing such a good deed. Aside from volunteer work, Taylor is involved in many extra-curricular activities. She participates in ballet, jazz, tap dance, musical theatre, lyrical, speech arts and 4-H. She excels at each of these areas because she exhibits dedication. Her days are busy and her mom can barely keep up, but Taylor loves it! In her academics, Taylor is thorough and successful. Her favourite subject is Language Arts because it allows her to be creative and she loves to write stories. In her busy schedule, her homework is always complete and responsibilities are always achieved. Taylor is a real go-getter and deserves praises for her positive attitude and genuine care of those around her. I am honored to know this young girl and receive her boost of energy on a daily basis. Her smile is contagious and her attitude is enlightening.

Tanea Janzen

Tanea Janzen has grown from being a girl with little esteem and confidence into a lovely, assertive and self-assured young lady. This change has evolved over four years due to her involvement in the Medicine Hat community as a young volunteer. Tanea has given time to different local non-profit organizations never expecting anything in return. It is her sense of "community" along with having a loving, caring and nurturing home environment that's inspired her to be a contributing young adult volunteer member in the community. Tanea is being raised by a mother who herself knows the importance in giving back so she has set the example within their home that volunteering is important. Tanea's mother has done an excellent job instilling solid core traditional values that in today's time is not always the case in many young people's lives. Tanea received the recognition being Big Brothers Big Sisters Duncan MacLean Little of the Year for 2008 that she greatly deserved. The criterion to receive such an honor hones in on community, school, spiritual, sport through philanthropy, increasing the well being of humankind, as by charitable aid or donations. Tanea spearheaded the Crescent Heights High School newspaper and has been an active student council member since grade 7 at Crescent Heights High School. Tanea received The Peace Medal Award through the local YMCA recognizing her contribution to our local community through her act of volunteerism. Hopefully the review committee will see that Tanea is a bright, vibrant, and extremely dedicated to giving back into her community by honoring her as a Leader of Tomorrow.

52352100•03/20/10 Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8