INSPIRATION

RUI SONG was just 16 years old when she made the world a healthier place with a tiny seed. The Grade 11 student earned second prize at the 2012 Sanofi BioGENEius Challenge Canada when she designed a more nutrient-packed version of the lentil – an economical source of protein eaten worldwide that’s essential in developing countries. The experience motivated the Saskatoon student to devote her life to changing the world through research.

DR. CAMILLE HANCOCK FRIESEN, a researcher and the head of pediatric cardiac surgery at IWK Health Centre in Halifax, gave elementary students the chance to be each other’s health heroes with a research project called Heart Healthy Kids Lunch in which peer mentors led their schoolmates in active games at lunchtime. With just some beanbags, Hula-Hoops and friendly encouragement, kids boosted their physical activity by 17 percent.

In Toronto, DR. MIKE EVANS has discovered a cool way to encourage Canadians to get fit: YouTube. Evans’s lecture “23½ Hours” – which has gone viral to the tune of over three million views – urges folks to get off their butts and walk 30 minutes a day in order to prevent a host of health woes, including arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, anxiety and depression. He gave us a tool to become our own health saviours.

Through the Richmond Schoolyard Society, chef IAN LAI, the society’s founder and an instructor at the Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver, is helping kids understand food cycles. He gets nearly 1,500 elementary school children outside in the dirt to plant seeds, learn about sustainable gardening and get their veggies. “If they grow it, they will probably eat it,” says Lai. “They take ownership when they see something start to sprout.”