Juliette Dupre, formerly of St. Lawrence, is a young adult with goals and objectives in her life as she strives to complete a medical degree.
Along the way, though, the second year McGill University Science and Arts student is offering her support and talents in other countries.
This January, Juliette will embark on an African Field Studies Term in East Africa for three months. She will join 30 students from McGill and other Canadian Universities, along with 15 professors.
While there, she will continue her studies which offer an incredible challenge and unique experience studying and learning while “out in the bush” and travelling through East African countries.
Following the Field Studies Term, Juliette plans on remaining in Africa to work for a number of months.
Recently, she returned from Salasaca, Ecuador in South America after volunteering for 10 weeks. While there, she immersed herself into the culture of the area learning the language, traditions and more of the people.
During her stay in Ecuador, Juliette volunteered at Katitawa School, teaching English, math and dance – she has a strong background in Ballet. The school is bilingual (Spanish) with children from ages 2-12 years.
The Katitawa school sits above the hills of the town of Salasaca and has a breathtaking view of surrounding volcanoes, one of which became active a week after Juliette’s arrival.
In her free time, Juliette trained to achieve her goal of completing the Montreal Marathon Sept. 5, 2010.
“Running in the Andes, where the air is so thin and the trails are truly trails, was quite an experience, certainly helped me prepare for running in Montreal.”
On her return to Montreal, Juliette did accomplish her goal of running the full Marathon of over 42 kilometres, along with 1,700 of 22,000 signed up to participate in the marathon, half marathon and various shorter distances.
It was five days before Juliette’s 20th birthday.
She indicated the marathon was not only for the personal satisfaction of completing the race, but it also became a way for Juliette to raise funds for the Katitawa School, which is in dire need of donations.
As a result, many friends and family members have come forward to sponsor the ‘Run 4 Katitawa’, which was the logo displayed prominently on the tee shirts proudly worn by friends who greeted Juliette at the end of the marathon at the Olympic Stadium.
Juliette thanked all those who sponsored her ‘Run 4 Katitawa’. If anyone would like to find out about Katitawa School, make a donation to the cause or about volunteering opportunities at the school, they can visit the web site ‘www.skyecuador.org’ click on ‘Katitawa’.
Juliette is a daughter Guy and Rosalie (Edwards) Dupre. She attends McGill University in Montreal, where she is a 2009 BMO Capital Markets Loran scholar. She also received an award from the Millennium Scholarship Foundation.
Because she is a Loran Scholar, Juliette is expected to participate actively in the ‘Loran Award Summer Program’ for the four-year duration of her scholarship. For the upcoming summer program, Juliette’s intention is to return home to Newfoundland from McGill University to participate in a public policy internship.
“This is such a dynamic and electrifying period in Newfoundland politics. What a great opportunity it would be for any young person to be a part of this process.” - – Juliette Dupre
She said the purpose of this internship is to gain experience with the “political policy making process.” and learn how it’s developed and the basics of policy analysis.
With this as her goal, Juliette has applied to work with Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Education Minister/Grand Bank District MHA Darin King in St. John’s as part of an unpaid intern for a 10-week period from May to July 2011.
“This is such a dynamic and electrifying period in Newfoundland politics. What a great opportunity it would be for any young person to be a part of this process.
“As a young woman, who is interested in political equal opportunity, education, public speaking and rural development, the possibility of interning with Premier Dunderdale and Dr. King is very exciting. What an enriching and rewarding summer internship this would be.”
In May 2007 she was selected winner of the ‘Lester B. Pearson Canadian Student Scholarship’ as a Level II student at St. Lawrence Academy. It's an annual award.
It has allowed her to attend Canada’s only National Pre University College during Grades 12 and 13.
Also at the age of 17, she won the 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Education Pearson Scholarship, valued at $66,000. In her first year at Pearson, she was the recipient of the ‘most Diplomatic Delegation Award’ while representing Pearson College at the Model United Nations Debating Conference held at University of Victoria in Victoria, B. C.
Juliette was the first titleholder of ‘Miss Teen Achievement NL’ in 2006.
The Miss Teen Achievement NL organization, which celebrated its 5th year anniversary – Oct. 14-17, held a silent auction and a portion of the proceeds were donated to Kititawa School, in honour of its first provincial award winner, Juliette Dupre.
Juliette performed the duties of Master of Ceremonies Oct. 15 for the Public Speaking Competition, She helped set up the Silent Auction in conjunction with the anniversary.
During the Sunday night Gala, she assisted with the program and spoke about her experiences volunteering in Ecuador, expressing her gratitude to everyone for their contributions to the silent auction.
Another milestone this year for the 20-year-old was her selection by McGill University to represent its interests at the International Symposium called ‘Faith and Globalization’ at Singapore University in August this year. The ‘Tony Blair Faith Foundation’ of London, England, sponsored the symposium at Singapore University, Singapore.
The two-day discussion and debate featured many religious leaders, international students, professors, former Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife, Sherrie.
.jpg)
