SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After years of raising money and helping non-profit organizations in her school, community and abroad, Lauren Seabrook received recognition from the Governor General of Canada.

Lauren Seabrook, left, a Grade 10 student from Sir John Franklin, was one of 12 students who received a Governor General Canadian Caring Award last week at the We Conference in Calgary. The event drew 16,000 students from across Alberta and the Northwest Territories. At right is Marc Kielburger, founder of Free the Children and a Governor General's Order of Canada recipient. - photo courtesy of Jeff Seabrook

Seabrook, a Grade 10 student at Sir John Franklin High School, was among 17 people who travelled to the annual Me to We Conference last week hosted by international charity Free the Children Canada at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary.

Seabrook was given the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award during a special dinner, Oct. 26. The award, devised in 1995, goes to people in the country who give their time to help others in their community. It includes a lapel pin, a certificate and a letter.

Seabrook was nominated by Melanie Parisella, a teacher at William Mcdonald School who introduced the Me to We program in 2010 and the school is the only one in Yellowknife affiliated with Free the Children. In Canada there are about 6,000 schools affiliated with the international charity.

"I think it just proves to myself that I can do it (contribute and make a difference in community)," she said, adding one of the obstacles to trying to volunteer is questioning whether an initiative is a good idea or not. "Any self-doubt that I had or loss of confidence, this just proves that I can put my mind to it and that I can do it."

"I just try to be as involved as I can in the community."

Marc Kielburger presented the award. Because he is co-founder of Free the Children Canada and an Order of Canada recipient, Kielburger is one of the few people other than the governor general who can hand out awards of this kind. About 12 young people from all across Alberta received similar awards.

The recognition adds to Seabrook's recent awards for giving to her community, including with Sleeping Children Around the World back to when she was in Grade 5.

According to the organization's website, it "provides a bedkit that consists of a mat or mattress, pillow, sheet, blanket, mosquito net (if applicable), clothes outfit and school supplies. Bedkit contents vary from country to country depending upon local needs."

When she was in Grade 8 in 2013, she received $10,000 from songstress Tenille during the artist's Play it Forward Tour, in which recipients were granted money to be donated to a charity of their choice. Seabrook chose to send the money to the NWT SPCA, Sleeping Children Around the World and the Ronald McDonald House.

Part of the money also went to paying for Spencer West, an amputee motivational speaker, to visit Yellowknife in February 2014.

Some of the award's recognition went to other community initiatives she was involved with including We Scare for Hunger, which encourages people to donate non-perishable food items instead of candy during Halloween night. Seabrook has also been involved in a school initiative since 2010 called We are Silent which gets students and interested parties to be silent and not use phones in order to raise awareness about the human right to speak and child slaves in the world who have no voice.

Melanie Parisella, who has overseen the Me to We group since it started at William Mcdonald School says this latest award for Seabrook adds to the importance and effectiveness of contributing to community.

"Really it is part of a movement that shows this is a new and young generation that will make a difference one step at a time," Parisella said.

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