What were you doing when you were a teenager? Founding a nonprofit organization? Heading up two successful business ventures? Discovering an effective and natural alternative to immunosuppressive drugs? Me neither! Yet, these are just some of the extraordinary activities that this year’s Top 20 Under 20 award recipients are up to.

Top 20 Under 20 is the national flagship program of Youth in Motion, an organization co-founded ten years ago by president & CEO Akela Peoples to help youth transition from school into the workforce. Says Peoples, “We felt there was a widening gap and we saw a lot of young people struggle with career exploration and the decision-making process. Our goal is to raise awareness with young people that there are many paths to success in today’s world of work, to empower them to plan ahead, and to show the correlation between having a job that you love and being happy and successful in life.”

Not just about high marks

Youth in Motion created the Top 20 Under 20 award to celebrate and honour Canadians who have demonstrated a significant level of innovation, leadership and achievement but have not yet reached the age of 20. An important difference with this award is the de-emphasis on academics; it recognizes that success in today’s competitive world requires much more than academic skills. For this reason, the assessment criteria look beyond academics to specific skills that have a positive impact on the everyday life of our community. Says national program manager Larry Mah, “I think what makes us stand out is that we do not factor academics into the equation. Part of our message is that we’re looking for young people who are doing interesting things in their community, not necessarily young people with the highest marks.”

Going into its fifth year, the award typically receives 300-400 applications that go through a two-stage selection process. The first round judges review the applications and recommend 42 applicants. The final round judges – all Order of Canada recipients – conduct telephone interviews and then choose the top 20. An official celebration event (this year held June 7th) formally announces the year’s recipients and each receives a cash prize of $2,000 to put toward an educational experience.

More than a cash award: developing leadership potential

But it’s not just about bringing youth in for an award ceremony, giving them a cheque and a round of applause. In addition to the cash award, Youth in Motion invests in the leadership development of each recipient, starting with the Leadership Summit that occurs during the five days leading up to the award ceremony. During this time, award winners participate in innovative workshops on topics like media training, personal branding, and business etiquette.

The Leadership Summit is also a chance for the award winners to meet each other and mingle. Simon Pickup is one of this year’s award recipients. For him, “it was incredibly humbling to meet the other 19. I was standing in a room full of talent. Over there was someone who helped solve SARS and over there was someone who is working on a cure for cancer… You are standing in a room with all this amazing talent and you really get a sense that you are standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Pickup was chosen for his hydrogen project work. In grade four, the question-premise Pickup chose for his science fair project was “How do we solve the fuel problem?” He proposed that hydrogen was the solution and built a device that used electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. In 2004, Simon founded Youth Hydrogen – the only youth organization that fosters the development of young leaders while advancing the global shift to hydrogen and renewable energy. Youth Hydrogen is currently overseeing the ongoing design and planning for the construction of a hydrogen refueling station in the City of North Vancouver. When completed, it will be the world’s first example of gasoline-competitive hydrogen.

Don’t forget, Pickup is still in high school. He participates in an alternative program that offers a flexible course schedule so he can move class times around and work 20-30 hours per week on the hydrogen demonstration project.

Access to Canadian leaders

In addition to the leadership training offered during the Leadership Summit, award recipients receive one-on-one personalized career coaching and one-year access to a brand expert with online support to help them identify and develop their own brand. Award recipients also have access to an online learning centre of more than 2,000 courses. And once a month, there is a conference call with Canadian leaders like Craig Kielburger, Severn Suzuki or business executives. During the call, there is a 20-minute talk plus time for questions and discussion. As well, each award recipient is matched with a mentor who is an accomplished leader in a field of interest identified by the youth.

That proved very beneficial for 2006 award recipient, Naveen Hassan. Her mentor was the head of neurosurgery at the Hospital for Sick Children. Hassan thought she wanted to go into medicine and, through her mentor, she got a real feel for what the job was like. That gave her the confirmation that she had chosen the right career path.

Hassan’s high school vice principal nominated her for the 2006 Top 20 under 20 award. At the beginning of Grade 11 she conducted a safe school survey in her school. The results blew her away and she wanted to do something so that students felt safe. So, she established the Empowered Students Partnership (ESP) as well as a chapter of Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID) (she was then appointed as the Toronto school representation and chosen to chair the annual OSAID conference). One of Hassan’s important contributions to school safety was the hotline she started so students could anonymously report witness information. The Toronto District School Board recognized the hotline as a best practice and it is in the works that all schools in the board will have their own hotline. During Grade 12, knowing that she would be graduating and moving on from the school, Naveen took on the role of training her replacements.

Hassan also participated in “Leading the Way”, a hip traveling show that visits schools across Canada. Award recipients talk about what they did to earn the Top 20 Under 20 award and encourage other students to get involved in the community. It was an experience that gave her an immense sense of satisfaction.

Credibility and validation

The Top 20 Under 20 award is a high honour for both Hassan and Pickup. “It is nice to be recognized for something that I love doing. The award gave me reassurance that I am on the right track. It’s such a great honour,” enthuses Hassan. “I’ve grown so much as an individual and as a leader. My network has quadrupled. And as a youth member on Youth in Motion’s board of directors, I got to sit in a boardroom and interact with some very accomplished people. I got to see behind the scenes of a nonprofit organization.”

In Pickup’s words, “You put so much time into the project. To have someone give you national recognition, it is wow! That means something. Someone’s taken me seriously. Now, if I’m trying to arrange a meeting with someone for sponsorship or a product demonstration, it lends me some credibility. I may not have a degree yet but, as a young person, I know what I’m talking about!”

Watch out world, here they come!

In addition to the Top 20 under 20 national program, Youth in Motion also currently offers mentoring programs, career learning days and an online searchable gallery of profiles of people in the workforce.

Louise Chatterton Luchuk is a freelance writer and consultant who combines her love of writing with experience at the local, provincial and national levels of volunteer-involving organizations. For more information, visit www.luchuk.com.