Editor’s Welcome: The kids are all right, 2022 edition

Imagine spending half your high school career under the shadow of a pandemic. Imagine having your in-person learning interrupted and disrupted and then having to pivot to online learning. Imagine returning to school, but to a hybrid model of education with only the hint of normality and only at the end of your high school career.

Leaside students don’t have to imagine. This has been their reality for the past couple of years. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, a number of young people have thrived.

Four in particular, at Leaside High, are stellar examples of achievement and strength under adversity. At Leaside Life we are honoured to highlight four outstanding LHS graduates in a feature by our regular schools columnist, Janis Fertuck.

Michael Cassidy won the prestigious Schulich Leader Scholarship valued at $80,000 to study computer science at Queen’s University. Yousra Lakhani will be studying health sciences at McMaster University after receiving the McMaster Health Science Achievement Award. Armiti Zarbakhsh earned a scholarship to the Pearson Stream at Victoria College, University of Toronto, to complete a double major in political science and neuroscience. Mikela Scharlach has chosen a program in biomedical engineering at the University of British Columbia.

And you’ll be able to learn more about one of these outstanding grads – Yousra Lakhani – in another feature in Leaside Life. Yousra is the winner of our very own Ruth and Harry Goldhar Journalism Award, honouring her work as editor-in-chief of the newspaper, the Leaside Chronicle.

The future looks bright with Leaside students like these leading the way.

Enjoy the issue!

About Jane Auster 53 Articles
Jane Auster is the editor of Leaside Life. Jane is an award-winning professional editor and writer for print and digital who has covered a variety of industries in Canada for more than 25 years. As a print journalist, Jane has contributed to many of the major consumer magazine markets in Canada, including Maclean’s, Canadian Business, and The Globe and Mail.