Harper Roy was very young when she lost her sister to childhood cancer. The now 13-year-old has used her grief to fuel her humanitarian efforts.
“If I can help someone feel even just a little bit less sad than we had to feel, then that’s like, really good,” Roy said.
Roy raised more than $10,000 through her lemonade stand in support of families facing childhood cancer. She also mentors an adapted athlete. Her efforts have landed her as a finalist for the Youth Distinction Volunteer Award.
The 2025 Youth Distinction Awards take place on Saturday, May 3. The 22nd edition of the event will feature eight categories, with three finalists each. The categories include sportsmanship, perseverance and peer support, among others.
“For each of the finalists, it’s like the Oscars. There’s a little video that plays for each finalist, and then someone comes up on stage and opens an envelope, reveals it, and that recipient pops up on stage, they receive their award,” said Lisa Litz, director of engagement with Youth Central.
The event is planned, emceed and supported by a council of youth. The council sifts through applications to choose winners and nominees.
The awards will feature an appearance by Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and a networking event for all in attendance.
Honouring these youth is as important as ever. With adult volunteering at a low point, youth have begun to fill that gap, Litz said.
“We see through all these finalists that youth are capable right now, they aren’t tomorrow’s leaders, they are leading right now. If we as adults look at that, we can see that we’re all capable of making our world a little more positive with what we’ve got right now,” she said.
Litz said that the youth who run the event are as important as those who receive awards. Event runners serve for a minimum of one year and learn skills like budgeting, building consensus and public speaking, skills Litz said “don’t fade.”
This year’s candidates are incredibly diverse and driven, according to Litz.
“They’re not accepting excuses. They’re not like, ‘I can’t step up because of this or that.’ It’s so easy in everyday life to think of all the reasons why you can’t step up and be the one to make things better. These youth inspire me,” she said.
Exciting but not surprising opportunities
Roy said that her family often tells her that they’re proud but being recognized by Youth Central is special.
“Mom always says, ‘I’m proud of you’ and stuff. It’s special when it’s not someone they’re not just saying it because they love me,” she said.
Harper’s mom, Heather, said that seeing the work and being recognized in these awards is unique.
“We see things like this for adults, top 40 under 40, and these sorts of different projects, where full-blown adults, professionals get acknowledged in spaces. I didn’t realize that people were acknowledging kids for this kind of big, important work, too,” she said.
Heather continued to say that seeing Harper up for this award was an honour, but not surprising. Heather said that when her sister was in treatment, Harper was often seen brightening the hospital with funny costumes and silly faces.
Harper is an athlete with goal of swimming for the Canadian Olympic team. She often works with an adapted athlete, an experience she calls a privilege.
Harper’s local swim club has a team of adapted athletes.
“There’s so many things that you can learn from all of those girls on that team,” Harper said.
