Stephanie Melsted - Young Humanitarian

Riverton Early Middle School Grade 7 student Stephanie Melsted is the Middle Years winner of the 11th Annual Manitoba Teachers’ Society Young Humanitarian Award, and was honoured at a ceremony held at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People on April 28th. At the ceremony winners were presented with an engraved medal, a framed certificate and one thousand dollars.

“Stephanie is an exceptional young person,” says teacher Krista Borgfjord. “She is extremely compassionate towards her peers and teachers alike; always going out of her way to help those around her, whether it is a new student struggling with English as an additional language or a fellow classmate who is having difficulties in Mathematics class. She consistently shows patience and empathy for those around her.” Stephanie is very well respected and liked by her fellow classmates. One month during the school’s “Character Counts” program, every ticket written up by her classmates included Stephanie’s name for exhibiting that particular character pillar of the month.

Last year, Stephanie decided she wanted to try to make a bit of a difference. She grew her beautiful red hair long, with the plan to donate it for wigs for cancer survivors. Stephanie collected pledges for the Terry Fox Run with the stipulation that she would cut off her hair the day of the run.

In September, Stephanie participated in the Terry Fox Run, after which she cut off most of her hair to donate. The smile on her face showed how important it was to her, and how it gave her a satisfying feeling to help others in need.

Stephanie is the Vice President of her school’s student council, and when she is not busy organizing school events or helping to supervise younger students, she’s pitching in for charity fundraising such as World Vision and the Rainbow Society.

“When I’m older,” Stephanie said, “I would like to help children in developing countries like Africa and Afghanistan and my plan is to become a veterinarian and run an animal rehabilitation centre.”