National Teen Driver Safety Week Parachute Youth Road Safety Grant Program 

Ovia is a second-year undergraduate student at Memorial University. Ovia will be creating and doing a one-hour interactive presentation at elementary schools in her community on pedestrian, cyclist, and driver safety as well as the impact of climate change on road safety. The presentation will include a trivia game where students can win prizes and booklets about road safety and fun activities.

Ava is a Grade 10 student at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute. Ava will be commemorating the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims by holding an assembly at her school. In this assembly, individuals who have been impacted by road traffic crashes will share their stories to bring awareness to the millions that lose their lives in road traffic crashes. Ava and her team will also do a presentation on road safety statistics in Canada and allow students to ask questions about road safety. 

Team member: Ruby Freedman

Jessica is a fourth-year undergraduate student at York University. Jessica and a group of trained youth volunteers will organize a local park event to educate park goers about motor vehicle and motorcycle safety. Park goers who participate will receive freebies such as pens and stationary items. They will also be entered into a raffle draw to win a safety prize pack.

Cameron is a grade 10 students at White Pines High School. Cameron and his team will partner with the White Pines High School’s Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving (OSAID) club to organize activities at their school to educate students on speeding, alcohol and drug-impaired driving and distracted driving. Activities will include risky driving PSAs during morning announcements, impaired vision goggles demonstrations, and a guest speaker from the Anishinabek Police Services.

Team members: Isabel Nentwig, Lilianna O’Brien, Noah Miouduszewski

Anna is a grade 10 student from Harold M. Braithwaite Secondary School. Anna and her team will be creating a presentation for elementary school students in their community on safe pedestrian and cycling habits. The presentation will feature interactive activities such as a Kahoot game, colouring pages and live safety demonstrations on crossing streets safety, wearing a bicycle helmet properly and using hand signals while cycling.

Team member: Jasmeet Mota

Sophia is a grade 6 student at Keswick Public School. Sophia and her team will be partner with the York Regional Police to purchase bright yellow backpacks with the school zone speed limit on it and distribute them to grade 1 and 2 students to wear and remind drivers to slow down and use caution in school zones. The students will wear their backpacks at the beginning of November to coincide with daylight savings time.

Hennessey is a grade 11 student at Centre Wellington District High School. Hennessey will be partnering with Safe Communities Wellington County and the Wellington County Ontario Provincial Police Youth Advisory Council to create an interactive presentation for high school students in the area. The presentation will be doing over the importance of safe driving and the rules of the graduated licensing system and will feature games where students can win prizes.

Grayson Hoa is a grade 10 French immersion student at St. Martin Leboldus Catholic High School. Grayson and his team will partner up with Saskatchewan General Insurance to set up an interactive booth in front of the canteen to educate students about the dangers of distracted driving. The booth activities will allow students play a driving computer game while distracted to show how distraction impacts driving. There will also be a Spin the Wheel trivia contest where students can test their knowledge about distracted driving and win prizes.

Team member: Hayden Tran

Jaiden Hoa is a first-year student at the University of Regina. Jaiden and her team will partner with Saskatchewan General Insurance to interview and test the knowledge of students at the University of Regina about impaired driving. Interviews will be filmed and edited with consent from their participants and posted on Instagram and TikTok to generate awareness about impaired driving. As part of the interviews, the team will be using virtual reality goggles to demonstrate to students the impact of drinking alcohol on driving ability.

Team members: Lila Banionyte, Nikita Nobert

Harry Kangles is a grade 5 student at Ethel Milliken School. Harry and the Ethel Milliken safety patrol team will partner with the Ethel Milliken school community council and the Regina City Police to organize a positive ticketing campaign where the safety patrol team will award gift cards to parents who are engaging in safe pedestrian and driving behaviour during morning drop off and afternoon pick up. The safety team will select one road safety behaviour to award each month and the winners will be celebrated on the school’s learning platform and social media accounts.

Team members: Hillary Ibbott Neiszner, Laine Goertz Kaeding

Erika is a grade 12 student at Miller Comprehensive High School. Erika will be partnering with her school’s Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) club to spread the word about the dangers of alcohol impaired driving. This will be done activities including a liquor bag campaign where students write messages and create illustrations about not drinking and driving, a white out day where students are encouraged to wear white to symbolize the lives lost due to alcohol impaired driving, and a virtual reality goggle event at lunch so students can try out the goggles to see how being impaired impacts driving.

Hayden is a grade grade 10 student at St. Martin Leboldus Catholic High School. Hayden will partner with Saskatchewan General Insurance to do a lunch time demonstration of the dangers of impaired driving using a simulator to show students the difference between driving while impaired and driving while sober. Students will also be quizzed on their knowledge of impaired driving and win prizes for their participation.

Stuti is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Alberta. Stuti and her team will be partnering with a variety of organizations including the St. Albert Policing Committee, Shae-Lynn’s Butterfly Effect, and the City of St. Albert to release an article in the main St. Albert newspaper, the St. Albert Gazette, which will feature interviews with individuals who have been affected by road crashes. The team will also be mapping audience engagement with a survey published on the City of St. Albert website.

Team members: Emilie Jurick, Maakor Okai