2nd Place Essay Winner of The 2019 Helping Hands Scholarship

My Life Goals

By Elijah Zimmerman

“I am Elijah Zimmerman and I am of seventeen years of age as of July 26, 2001. I am the fourth and youngest child of Rosanne and Bernie Zimmerman. I grew up on the family farm outside of Emo Ontario and worked on it throughout my childhood and through elementary to high school. I am currently applied and accepted in a history program at The University of Trent. My community involvement has been mostly of advisement and counsel for other youths within the area, I enjoy history and am intrigued by the legal system and it is what I plan to study, and I plan to enter criminal law as a prosecutor or defence lawyer. My life goals for an education and career as a defence lawyer or a prosecutor are reasonable aspirations because of my abilities and experiences that favour those goals, but the Helping Hands Scholarship would also be instrumental in allowing me to pursue them.

I have a long history of community involvement. Even before high school I was involved in numerous fundraisers for my church, my school, and charities such as the Salvation Army and Development and Peace. Entering high school, I was a member of the Fort Frances Junior Band and Intermediate Band for three years, as well as an actor playing Wes for “Footloose The Musical.” Beyond local art, I was also a junior counselor for Discovery Camp for two years, amounting to well over one hundred hours volunteered there. Discovery Camp is a local bible camp that tries to initiate a sense of community, a sense of belonging, and tries to strengthen education about Christianity. Just this year I was involved in a school fundraiser for the school’s “Chem Free Grad” which provides a safe environment for highschool graduates a safe place to celebrate were they will not abuse drugs or alcohol. The fundraising was split into various events throughout the year and the one I worked on, the bake sale and barbeque, had the largest revenue in school history, raising in excess of fifteen thousand dollars. I also was academically inclined throughout high school and was in the Advanced Placement English program which carries with it the possibility of counting for a first year university credit. This culminated into the school approaching me and asking if I would like to join their tutoring program where I would be helping other students in their classes, to which I accepted. I spent about forty hours volunteering to tutor in my grade twelve year. My volunteering has mostly been about helping youths and helping them realize their own potential, and that is also the part of my volunteering that I am most proud of.

I have not always been interested in law, but I have almost always been interested in history. Even in kindergarten you could find me reading, or at least looking at the pictures in history books, specifically the second world war, a passion still present and securely with me today. I took grade twelve history in grade eleven, skipping grade eleven history. During my late middle school and early highschool grades, I was interested in programming and game design taking a few classes in it. But in grade eleven I changed my focus to law as I became interested in it and as it had a more promising future if I follow it. I became increasingly interested in law as I took a law class and I followed current cases as they were released to the public on my own. I started following the history of law from the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, to Mosaic Law, Roman Law, and British Common Law which is the basis for our modern Canadian law. Along with this I looked over the contents, evidence, and the results of many older and newer cases in Canada and the United States, blending the pre-existing and long-lasting interest of History with the new interest of law. This allowed me to understand the law more intimately and I became increasingly interested in pursuing the many careers of law, from lawyer and lawmaker to police officer. I always sought justice for others throughout my life, which is most likely one reason why I took a quick liking to it. I would often come to the defence of classmates if they became the targets of teasing or harassment and would make a conscious effort to treat everyone with respect. Another reason I have taken a quick liking to the study of law is that I like to debate, whether it be philosophy or politics, I often engaged in debates with those around me if they had formed an opinion of their own on the matter. The idea of debating and finding the truth for a career thus became appealing to me for that reason as well. After I became so enthralled and moderately proficient in law, I decided I would pursue a career in being a lawyer. History is one of the most common undergraduate degrees among lawyers and is considered to promote critical and sequential reasoning which is why it is so common. My love of law and history is sure to propel my journey through post secondary school.

Even before I was interested in law, I always sought justice in the world. As a child I wanted to make sure everyone was treated fairly and I often took it upon myself to do so. I would be sure that everyone was included in activities and would often make friends with those described as more troublesome and help them through their difficulties and disadvantages in school. This led me to be highly revered in my classes and schools among both the teachers and students. This regard by my peers led to my winning of the student council class representative. Although the class representative role meant I had to give up many breaks for council meetings, for there was at least one a week, I took the position and my responsibility to my class seriously and was not deterred. Knowing that the other classmates were able to go on break while I participated in a meeting at an age most people would choose the break did not bother me for two reasons: Firstly, I had a duty to my class and school to represent my class to the student council. Secondly, I did not become disinterested in the face of it; I found as much pride and joy in my service as someone my age possibly could. I developed these values of justice, duty, and initiative throughout my childhood and they are something I brought through highschool and I bring with me as I leave. As a defence lawyer or prosecutor in criminal law, these values are important not just for the job and pay, but to make considerable contributions to society. I was always disheartened by societal injustice, by those left behind unfairly, and by those who escape punishment for their actions. Because of this I always attempted to make a more just community. I would form friendships with people in all groups and help people through school or life. I helped people get over problems and helped people mend relationships. In a few distinct cases I was able to talk with someone who was struggling with severe mental health, someone who thought that they could give up on life, thankfully they did not and I was able to refer them to resources that could help them. It is not always fun to help people, people in desperate situations can express many different emotions. Anger, sadness, depression, dread, and fear all come from those who need help. In criminal law, it is no different. There are people from all places and positions in society, in all sorts of situations and circumstances. But despite it being hard sometimes I try to help anyone I am able. In my career, I want to aid people, including people overlooked or dismissed by society; victims and the wrongly accused alike. A defence lawyer or a prosecutor is in a primary position to help these individuals. As a defence lawyer or a prosecutor, I can argue for justice, for those who cannot speak for themselves, and for a better society for all those who need it, regardless of race, religion, or any other label placed upon a person. That is what I hope to achieve in my career.

Therefore, I would appreciate and be thankful for the help offered by HollisWealth’s Helping Hands Scholarship in fuelling my life goals of achieving an undergraduate in history, going to law school, and becoming a defence lawyer or a prosecutor, which I intend to follow dutifully. I hope my community involvement with the youths, my investment into history and law, and my aspirations of being a prosecutor or defence lawyer are evident of that. My trip from Emo to Oshawa and into adulthood to study history and law is not going to be easy for me, but it is important.”

-Elijah Zimmerman

1st Place Essay Winner of The 2019 Helping Hands Scholarship

My Life Goals

By Carter Metcalf

     My name is Carter Metcalf, I am 18 years old. My parents, Nancy and Chad Metcalf are clients of Gary Elder. In August I will be attending the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, for Mechatronic Engineering.  I am starting one week early, as I have volunteered to be part of the University’s welcoming committee and move-in crew. I thought this was an excellent way to meet new people and start giving back to the university.

     I love that I grew up in Ontario, a province that has four seasons, amazing opportunities to explore, learn about nature and meet new people. I have dedicated as much time as possible to make it an even greater place to live. I accumulated 895 volunteer hours during my high school career, and I hope that I am setting a good example for my peers and particularly boys my age. I feel like young men get a bad rap, are overlooked or even undervalued and sometimes I think they struggle to see ways they can contribute.  I am not sure if society better recognizes this potential in girls, but I have worked very hard to dispel the stereotype that high school boys aren’t involved or interested in being involved. I have always wanted to please people and maybe more importantly I have wanted to feel good about the decisions I make. I believe that hard work, helping others and contributing to society through solving problems, is important.

     I work hard at school and have always achieved Honour Roll Status. In grade 8 I was voted valedictorian, both by my classmates and the school staff. In high school I continued to demonstrate active leadership and have been involved in many activities including being a grade 9 mentor, grade rep, member of band council and a member of the Relay for Life Committee. I played in three school bands and I was sectional leader. This was a huge time commitment, having a minimum of three practices a week with additional sectional practices over lunch. Outside of my nearly 900 volunteer hours, I coordinated two large band fundraisers that helped offset our costs to travel to New York and play at Carnegie Hall. I competed with the high school badminton team and play in the city league. I graduated with 5 extra high school credits (in my four years of high school) as I elected to take on-line courses and summer courses to allow time in my schedule to participate in music, technology courses, co-op and a year-long missions leadership program. I have two part time jobs during the school year. I taught Mytes skating twice a week and I am a swim teacher on the weekends and pick up shifts during the week when I am needed. I really enjoy working with the young kids in our community and helping them feel excited and proud of their accomplishments. I participated in Single A hockey but found that the coaching staff was often verbally degrading and demoralizing. In my final year of competitive hockey, the coach was demeaning to a few players and two of those players quit the sport altogether. I still loved the game of hockey and I wanted to play, so I continued with house league and I vowed I never wanted anyone person or child to feel that way, so I made sure I was the best Mytes skating coach I could be. I worked for seven years with the city’s Mytes skating program and I often coached the most shy and fragile players, helping them to feel confident and proud of their accomplishments. In the summer I run a swim program and last year we had a record number of registrations. This is a program that offers free swimming lessons to any child that registers, with the hope of preventing any drownings in the region. I was responsible for teaching, organizing, assessing and communicating with over 130 children and their families. It was an incredible amount of work and responsibility, but I really learned a lot and all the kids had a fabulous time. I have been rehired to run the program this summer and because of the program success, I was asked to run a similar program in another northern community.

     In grade 11, I participated in a year-long Missions Leadership Program, with focus on local, national and international missions’ activities. We travelled to Ecuador and helped build a school. It was an incredible experience that involved hours of work outside of the normal school day. I collected nine packed suitcases of new clothing, sundresses, baby layette sets and book bags. It was an amazing feeling being able to provide our mission group with these items and donate them on our trip. Recently, because of my school involvement, I was one of five students awarded a School Letter, which is awarded to students who have accumulated a minimum of 800 points. The points are awarded in categories and are weighted, based on grade averages, involvement in music, sports, clubs, mission work, councils and school events. I was the only male student to receive this honour and I hope that I will inspire other male students to get involved.

     Along with being busy with school, music, work and sports, I try and volunteer as much as possible. I have accumulated 895 volunteer hours during my time at high school. I have participated in parades, Rogers Home Town Hockey, Ontario Winter Games, Fundraisers for animal shelters, helping seniors, neighbourhood clean-ups and what I am most proud of, is that I established a network to divert useable goods from a casino warehouse to charities instead of going to the landfill. In April the casino and local newspaper highlighted this work.  In the past two years I have helped divert over 100,000 items from landfill. These items, deemed as scrap by the casino, are all reusable and often new. I pick up any items that can be directly used by a local charity and deliver them. This winter I delivered cases of surplus hot chocolate mix to the men’s shelter and Legion. I have set up a new dining hall in the men’s shelter with tables, giving them additional seating to service more clients. I take linens weekly to local animal shelters. This diversion program has even helped create a re-sale program that creates a revenue stream for a private no-kill cat shelter in our city. When unique items come available, I find creative ways to rehome or repurpose the item, while still helping charities. I am very proud of how many items have been kept out of our landfill and how many charities have been helped. One of the reasons I chose to attend the University I did, was so that I could come home more frequently and continue to support this program.  Another significant volunteer position I have is as the trail steward for a large provincially advertised walking trail and nature area. After I had volunteered for years helping with trail maintenance, I was asked by the board to take on this official role, which makes me accountable to the board for trail maintenance, trail promotion and fundraising.

     From a very early age I told my teachers that I wanted to be an inventor when I grew up. I liked the idea of creating something new and something useful. As I grew older and realized there wasn’t a university course for future inventors, I thought that engineers were inventors, and they did have a program for that. I have never strayed from that vision. I like the idea of being creative, solving problems and improving lives and the environment, with principles regulated by the rules and order of science. When I learned of the multidisciplinary degree that Mechatronic Engineering offered, I knew I had found my future program. I was excited and proud to be accepted to several university engineering programs, but I chose to accept my offer at the University of Ontario IT, recently rebranded as Ontario Tech U.  For many reasons this feels like a perfect school for me including the fact that I could still come home to help with my waste diversion program, contribute and participate in community wide events throughout the year and stay connected with my family and friends.  Ontario Tech U is one of only a few universities that offers Mechatronic Engineering, so I was excited to be able to take my program of choice at my university of choice.

          Throughout my schooling, I hope to secure several co-op placements, that will give me exposure to new fields and hopefully direct me to a final career destination.  I spent a day in the SNOlab in Sudbury and I would love to spend more time in mines and explore that possibility as a full-time career.  Either in my career or in a volunteer capacity, I want to be able to develop robotic type systems that can help save our planet. We need to get the plastic out of the lakes and oceans, out of landfill and out of consumer products. With my family’s involvement with the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, several animal rescues and wildlife rehabilitation centres, I have developed a passion for giving back. In my career or continuing my volunteer work, I would like to be able to build affordable aids to assist disabled people, disabled pets and injured wildlife; contributing to their quality of life. I would love to design and build these affordable aids and donate them to people and rescues in need.  I want to make a difference and I want to help the planet before it is too late. I have grown up in a family that has instilled the principle of giving back more than you take, to being kind to others and to protect animals and the environment.  Our planet is on the verge of irreversible damage and while I do everything I can to minimize my footprint, I want to do more to help reverse the damage done and protect our future. I’d like to be able to raise a guide dog in my upper years of university, as the guiding association is always in need of students for this role. On a personal level, I would like to increase funding opportunities to students to help them with the costs associated with their schooling. I’d like to help Ontario Tech University become aligned with the Loran Scholar Foundation. I was selected as a semi-finalist for this prestigious award and spent a day in Toronto being interviewed multiple times by committee members. Unfortunately, my University of choice, was not affiliated with this incredible program and I was not selected as a finalist. I would love a future UOIT student to have this opportunity and have the support of the Loran Scholar community. I have been nominated for an Order of Orillia award, and am a finalist. This is a nonmonetary award, but highlights community members that have given back to their community. It is an honour to be nominated and considered for this award. If I am selected as a finalist, I hope that it inspires other teenagers to be involved in their community and to find ways to give back. 

     While some of my life goals feel well defined, I think others will come into focus as I further my education. I do know that I will continue to support and grow my charity work and hopefully I will inspire the next generation to get involved.

Carter Metcalf 

Children's Breakfast Club

Helping Hands – Giving Back:

We recently hosted Breakfast on the Patio.  The purpose was twofold - to support the Children’s Breakfast Clubs and to meet our neighbours in our building.  As many of you will know - we have partnered with Rick and Zubeda now for a few years supporting their organization through our annual movie night and food drive. When they mentioned they were looking for support to start up their 24th breakfast club in the GTA we decided we could pool our resources and help. 

 We were able to raise some cash, all the equipment needed to start the new program this September and provide them with lots of breakfast food to get started. 

Our pancake breakfast was lots of fun!  Making new friends, while giving back is a great feeling.  

Partnerships

Partnerships

Over our careers – a combined sixty plus years of industry experience – one of the things we value most is the partnerships we have cultivated.

Our most important partnership is the one we’ve each developed with our individual clients.  We value many aspects of these relationships – open communication, sincerity, integrity and the honour to share our clients’ lives with them at various stages of their lives.  It’s all about perspective, regarding how we provide advice during these joyous and difficult periods of our clients’ lives. We find it extremely rewarding to sit with our clients and share their experiences as they journey through life with us and their families.  The partnerships evolve,  both personally and professionally over the course of time.  It is not a stretch to say these great client partnerships are the most rewarding part of what we do. 

The 2nd set of partnerships we value are those with our business partners.  Being able to work with long term trusted partners makes an enormous difference when selecting the perfect tool to use when creating clients’ strategies to assist them in achieving their financial milestones.  These relationships are invaluable to us.

Trust is the key to any relationship and we value the relationships we have built over the years and will continue to do so in the years ahead.  The larger and more life changing the decision is… the more important these partnerships become.  Whether it is a client or business partnership we each value the strength each brings to our lives.

 - Deb, Kelly & Gary

Getting A Different Opinion Of Things South Of The Border

Getting A Different Opinion Of Things South Of The Border

       On July 30th we took the opportunity to join Edyta Bujak, our associate with TD Asset Management at a face to face breakfast hosted by her with Keiron Recagno, VP for T. Rowe Price.  TD Asset Management is the only access to T.Rowe Price management expertise for the Canadian market. T. Rowe Price has had a long-standing partnership with TD Asset Management since 1993 and manage six mandates for TD Asset Management.  They manage over $1.445 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide and have a very large team of over 600 investment professionals.  The team at T. Rowe Price are active managers with a performance driven and collaborative approach.  They develop insights into their investments by meeting directly with people like Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

     T. Rowe Price and their mandates hold many investments including the FAANG stocks – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.  They are bottom up investors which means they are focused on earnings growth and company/business specific information that their teams of analysts’ research daily.   Keiron commented that “there is a current disconnect in the market” and “the markets don’t generally behave as they are supposed to.”  Several themes were discussed such as what the Federal Reserve in the U.S. is going to do in the near future – perhaps two separate 25 -basis point drops in interest rates by the end of 2019, the Chinese growth factor as well as the pending trade wars throughout the world.

     The consensus at T. Rowe Price is “cautiously optimistic” for the U.S. market.  Innovation in the marketplace is widespread through various sectors such as the internet and cloud functions, health care, media, security & defense and automation.  Proper asset allocation continues to be very important in everyone’s investment portfolios.

     As we have often said, taking the long-term approach to investing and understanding your own personal goals and timelines are the key to a successful investment and planning approach.  We continue to gather information from many different sources in an effort to help our clients make the most informed decisions possible for their future.