Next Up

A grade 12 student from New Westminster BC, Sadie’s goal in life is to create positive change. Her passion for social and environmental justice was sparked at age 13, when she began working with Free the Children. Shortly after, she fundraised six thousand dollars in six months to travel to Kenya, where she helped build a school. At present, Sadie is the president of the New Westminster Secondary School Interact club, which supports Doctors Without Borders and a local homelessness shelter. She is also an active member of her school’s Environment club. She aspires to empower other young people to become engaged with social change.

Sadie loves learning and seeks adventure. She fell in love with Italy during a year-long cultural exchange. Recently, she produced a play about global women’s rights which raised over a thousand dollars to fund safe housing and education for girls in Arusha, Tanzania. Sadie is also engaged in civic politics, having managed the successful campaign of a progressive City Councillor in the 2014 municipal elections. Currently, Sadie is working with teachers to start a cohort program at her school focused on social justice, with an emphasis on global issues and sustainability.

Sadie is deeply grateful to have won a scholarship for a student expedition to Antarctica, where she hopes to deepen her understanding of how human-caused climate change interacts with polar systems. She was also recently named New Westminster’s Junior Citizen of the Year. She is honoured to be a member of the Next Up Vancouver cohort 8.