The Gazette's Stars of Tomorrow series highlights inspiring young leaders ages 19 and under in St. Albert, Morinville, or Sturgeon County each month. If you know of a young leader who deserves the spotlight, please email our newsroom: [email protected].
A Morinville high school student has received a provincial honour for her inspirational service to her community.
This month’s Star of Tomorrow is Ivy Mills of Morinville, who received a Great Kids Award from MLA Dale Nally in July.
Awarded for the first time since 2019, the Great Kids Award recognizes Albertans aged five to 18 who inspire others and help build stronger communities, said award co-organizer Tristan Robinson of Alberta Children’s Services. There were 16 recipients this year, each of whom received a plaque and a letter from Children's Services Minister Matt Jones. While recipients typically get their awards at a gala event, this year's winners got their awards at smaller events arranged by local MLAs due to the pandemic.
Singer, volunteer
Mills, 16, is a Grade 12 student at Sturgeon Composite and a frequent volunteer at Morinville’s Higher Grounds — a non-profit coffee shop which donates its profits to local charities.
Mills said she started making coffee and drinks, singing, and playing the guitar and ukulele at Higher Grounds when she was younger to help out her mother, who was one of the managers there at the time.
“I would do a lot of work with our elders there,” she said, and she loved hearing stories from them as she prepared their drinks.
In the summer of 2020, Mills said she and her brother held two free outdoor concerts at the Aspen House seniors' home in Morinville — their first in-person concert since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was amazing,” she said, with many of the seniors dancing along to their Elvis and Beatles tunes.
Mills said she and her brother hope to play additional concerts at Aspen House.
Mills has sung at numerous school and public events, including Morinville’s International Women’s Day celebration. Three years ago, she was invited to sing O Canada at the opening of the Legislature — a nerve-wracking experience, she recalled, as the audience was mostly men in suits.
Mills identifies as queer and has volunteered at Pride events.
“My school at Sturgeon isn’t the most accepting,” she said, and some students have used homophobic slurs on her.
Mills said she worked to support other LGBTQ students at her school and help them report harassment to school staff.
Mills played a starring role in getting Sturgeon Composite’s live-streamed news program off the ground, said teacher Kyle Swenson.
Swenson said he was approached by two students two years ago who wanted to produce a daily show for school announcements. Mills soon joined in as an on-screen personality, helping to film weather reports, organize contests, and mentor others on how to act on camera. The show is now in its fourth season/semester, with Mills’s leadership and enthusiasm doing much to keep it going.
“She embodies what I’d like to see in more students,” Swenson said of Mills.
Mills teaches piano and guitar to area youths and plays in the indie band So Gently. She said she hopes to become a pastry chef after graduation.
Mills encourages other youths to be there for others as a volunteer.
“It feels really good to help other people,” she said.
Erin Marsh, a 12-year-old from St. Albert who lost her left eye to retinoblastoma, also received a Great Kids Award this summer for her kindness, leadership, and charity work. She was not available for an interview.
Nominations for the 2023 Great Kids Awards open this winter. Visit www.alberta.ca/great-kids-award.aspx for details.
