People
Ivneet Singh Bains: In Canada`s Top 20, Under 20
by SURBHI BHATIA
A teen from Surrey, British Columbia, has earned the distinction of being one of Canada’s Top 20 youth.
Ivneet Singh Bains, the 19-year-old boy, was given the Top 20, Under 20 award by a national not`-for-profit organization, Youth in Motion. The organization celebrates and honours Canadians who have demonstrated a significant level of innovation, leadership and achievement, but have not yet reached the age of 20.
Ivneet Singh has founded Math4me, a mentoring organization which helps young Canadians achieve academic and personal excellence.
“It is for the first time a person holding a Permanent Resident card has been selected for this award,” said the proud Ivneet Singh, who came to Canada only in 2007, with his family from Mohali, Punjab.
“Ivneet has been a brilliant all-rounder since childhood. He is a cricketer, musician and a theatre artist. When I realized his talent needed more exposure, I decided to move to Vancouver,” said Haropinder Singh Bains, Ivneet’s father.
Ivneet proved his genius in Canada too.
After entering Panorama Ridge High School in Surrey, he gained confidence volunteering with Surrey’s Parks Department, joining the school’s drama program and becoming a star batsman in the B.C. Mainland Cricket League.
In grade 12, he earned 100 per cent in math, calculus, physics, biology and chemistry, and in 2009 received the Governor General’s Academic Medal for Excellence.
Currently a second year business student at the University of British Columbia, he was offered full scholarship from the university.
“It was during my first year, I realized the need to help youth in their academics. I founded the Math4me initiative,” he said.
Math4Me helps Grade 3 to 12 students improve their math, science and English skills, and links them with volunteer work to better themselves and the world.
“We discovered teens today are too distracted. They are either on social networking sites or playing XBox. They do not have any goal in their lives. It was important to solve these problems first before giving them tuitions. We developed personal mentorship in which a student is motivated to study through different approaches like meditation, yoga, etc. They are then asked to sit down and discuss their long term goal and what they want to achieve in life,” Ivneet said.
“Our main goal is to provide affordable and effective tutoring to every student in our community. Hence, we start as low as $8/ hour for students in grade 8,” he said.
Where does Ivneet Singh get inspiration to juggle between so many jobs?
“They are my passions, not jobs, so I enjoy doing different things,” he said.
Courtesy: Voice
June 26, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Manwinder Singh Grewal (Surrey, British Columbia, Canada), June 26, 2011, 11:42 AM.
As a resident of Surrey, it is great to see more and more people giving back. Maybe this will inspire more people in Surrey, B.C., and around the world to give back.
2: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), June 26, 2011, 4:28 PM.
Ivneet beta, you have done all the Sikh youth and Sikhs at large proud with your sterling success. You are a beacon to inspire them. Please ensure that the Guru's crown - your tidily tied turban - always adorns you, and that we continue to worl towards repairing the misconception about the Sikhs ignorantly compared to Osama bin Laden's tribe. More importantly, always remember: "Mayraa kee-a kachoo na ho-ay/ karhai raam ho-ay hai so-ay" [GGS:1165.15] - "I cannot do anything by my own action. Whatever the Waheguru does, that alone happens." May you go from strength to strength and keep lighting other candles in the Guru's service.
3: Harinder (Mohali, Punjab), June 26, 2011, 9:41 PM.
Congratulations, son. Well done. Keep it up.
4: Baljit Singh Rihal JP (London, United Kingdom), June 27, 2011, 2:24 AM.
Well done, Ivneet Singh!