Portage student recognized with MTS Humanitarian Award

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This article was published 26/05/2015 (4014 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Portage Collegiate Institute teacher Ruth Mulligan said Grade 11 student Kirsten Trimble is always willing to step up and help.

That’s why she nominated Trimble, 17, for a Manitoba Teachers’ Society Young Humanitarian Award.

Trimble was one of 31 public school students selected to receive an award at the 18th annual MTS Young Humanitarian Awards show in Winnipeg on May 20.

“She always takes the initiative,” Mulligan said, noting that Trimble has volunteered in many ways, beginning when she was a middle school student in Oakville.

“We heard about her even before she came to PCI,” Mulligan said.

Since moving into high school in Portage, Trimble’s accomplishments include involvement in the school’s Social Justice Group, Teens Against Distracted Driving and helping to form the school’s first gay-straight alliance group.

She participates in local North Memorial School’s breakfast program, and has worked to raise money to buy food for the program.

Trimble has also volunteered with PCI’s Coffee House for Change, the Fair Trade and We Are Silent campaigns, and is organizing a craft day for mothers and children.

After travelling to Kenya and Nicaragua to help with building projects, she was inspired by a meeting with two girls in El Trapiche, Nicaragua who are hoping to attend high school. However the community currently doesn’t have a high school building.

“That’s really motivated me,” she said, referring to her meeting with the girls. “I’m trying to raise $10,000 to build one classroom.”

With that goal in mind, Trimble plans to launch a social media campaign and hold local fundraising events over the summer.

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