Gioel is currently a Sauvé Scholar 2012/13 and the Executive Director of Recrear –an international network of young professionals, consultants, and students collaborating to create new ways of interacting and delivering ideas in international development.

The belief that intercultural dialogue is a powerful instrument for international development is at the centre of Gioel’s work. Gioel grew up in a small town in central Italy, but soon left to explore the world. In 2007, she studied conflict resolution aboard the Scholar Ship, a passenger ship hosting students from all over the world on a four-month trip around the world. This was a true intercultural experiment that profoundly impacted her vision.

In 2008/09, Gioel received a grant to study and work in Germany for a year and spent a month in Nablus, Palestine, delivering a Cultural Dialogue workshop with Project Hope.

Following that project, she co-founded Recrear. Two years later, in 2011, she was elected executive director and since, then her “life has been packed in a suitcase.”

Recrear’s projects have taken Gioel to Palestine, the Dominican Republic, Canada and Bangladesh. In the past year, she worked as a research associate for the International Institute for Trade and Development in Bangkok, Thailand, and for the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador. As part of her research in Ecuador, she spent two months travelling around the Esmeraldas province with 100 Voices, a Recrear project aimed at exploring the participation of youth in community development.
Gioel holds a BA in International Studies from the University of New Orleans and an MPhil in Development Studies from Cambridge University.

Believing that Recrear is an organization with the right attitude, human resources and energy to deliver increasingly sophisticated projects, Gioel is devoting her Sauvé Year to developing a model to ensure Recrear’s financial sustainability while continuing to focus on the organizations’ programs and vision.

Ilana is an award-winning product designer with over 6 years experience, having worked in Montreal, Toronto, London (UK), and Helsinki. Her designs have been shown and sold internationally, including a chair shaped like a s’more which her grandmother insists was her finest work.

At TEDx Concordia 2011, she demonstrated her Connexions Toy — originally designed for visually impaired children to play with their sighted classmates. The toy has now been re-imagined as a tool to develop empathy and creative dialogue, for people of varying ages and abilities. With a breadth of knowledge in design, social innovation and collaboration –and having realized her career as a karaoke DJ had officially peaked– she now runs her own startup, Twenty One Toys. Using toys and play as tools for social change, Ilana is leading the way for learners of all ages to develop the key 21^st-century skills: Innovation, Creativity, Empathy, Collaboration and Problem Solving.

Dr. David Ragsdale is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University.  Dr. Ragsdale is originally from the Chicago area.  He earned his BSc degree in Psychology from the University of Illinois and his PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California Irvine. He then did postgraduate research at the University of Washington in Seattle, before coming to McGill in 1996.  Dr. Ragsdale’s research has focused mainly on ion channels, a family of proteins that give nerve cells in the brain their electrical properties.  More recently, he has investigated topics that connect the fields of neuroscience and philosophy.  In particular, he is interested in how the activity of the brain creates our sense of consciousness and conscious free will.

Sasha DiGiulian is a professional climber, world-ranking leader for Female Outdoor Sport Climbing, reigning national and world champion, US Junior and Adult National team member, and Athlete Representative for The International Federation of Sport Climbing.

Since the beginning of her career, Sasha has been extremely successful in her sport. She was the undefeated Junior Continental Champion from 2004-2010 and in 2011 she became the reigning US and Pan American Champion.  Sasha entered the World Championships in 2011, and her performance in the four categories- bouldering, speed, lead, and duel-secured her spot as the Overall Female World Champion.

Her achievements in climbing include many first female ascents, including Era Vela- (9a) 5.14d, Pure Imagination-(9a) 5.14d, Cosi Fan Tutte- (8c+) 5.14c, and Lucifer-(8c+) 5.14c.  She is also the only North American Woman to achieve 9a and to onsight 8b+, the third woman in the world to ascend 9a, and the youngest woman in the world to climb that grade.

Sasha has received awards and acknowledgments for her successes. At age 14, in 2007, she was named an “Outdoor Idol” by the Outdoor Industry Foundation, and in 2012 she was awarded a Gold Piton Award for “Breakaway Success”. She was also a featured guest at the US embassy in Bern, Switzerland, where they held a dinner in her honor.

Sasha is highly involved in various charity organizations. She serves as an athlete ambassador for Right to Play-a non-profit organization that aids underprivileged children around the world, and for Outdoor Nation-a movement to activate youth to enjoy America’s great outdoors. She is also involved with HERA, a women’s cancer foundation, as the founder of “Boulder Like a Girl” climbing clinic.

Having recently graduated as a straight-A student at The Potomac School, Sasha is currently in her first semester at Columbia University in NYC.  Her official website is: http://www.sasha-digiulian.com/.

Andréanne Morin is Olympic Silver Medalist in the Women’s 8 at the London 2012 Games. She has represented Canada in 3 Olympiads: Athens 2004 (7^th), Beijing 2008 (4^th) and London 2012. She has represented Canada in 3 continents, 12 countries and earned a dozen international medals at World Championships and World Cups. She says she owe a lot of her success to her amazing teammates; one legendary coxswain and 7 other superstars. She has been a proud ambassador for Canada, Quebec and female athletes.Andréanne is native of Montréal and throughout her 12-year athletic career on the National team has successfully juggled her academic studies. She attended The Study School in Montréal before pursuing her schooling at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. In 2006, she graduated from Princeton University, NJ in Political Economy, where she was also won the 2006 NCAA rowing title in the Varsity 8. Since the London Olympics, she has resumed her Law degree at the Université de Montréal.

She has also been involved in sporting organizations. She currently sits on the Athlete’s Commission for the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC). In 2011, she was appointed to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee as the only North American summer athlete on the committee. As far as a career, she hopes to weaver her passion for Olympic values with her interests in law. Sport law could be a nature progression, but only time will tell!

Nadia Sraieb-Koepp, Co-founder of Engagement Citoyen, an association based in Tunisia dedicated to awareness raising amongst women about the democratization process and their role in society, but also about what is at stake during this transitional period for them.

Former head of Marketing for Canal Horizons (subsidiary of the French TV channel CANAL plus) in Tunisia.  and free lance Press Officer at the United Nations in New York since 1997. Master in Marketing and Strategy from IAE (Institut d’administration des enterprises), Aix en Provence, France.  Second Master in Middle Eastern Studies from New York University, New York.

Sophia Harman-Heath is a 14 year old girl, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Like so many girls her age, she balances busy school work, team sports (volleyball, ringette, soccer and cycling). She loves summer camp, theatre and public speaking. However at the age of 13 Sophia had a life altering event- in the space of 4 weeks she lost all her hair! But this was just the beginning of Sophia’s journey!

Peter Mark Szilagyi, a native of Montréal, received his ‘Bachelor of Engineering – Civil’ from McGill University in 2005. He plied his engineering and project management skills as a project engineer in the Engineering Development Program at the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario in Toronto and Ottawa, and subsequently as a project manager and professional engineer in the field of commercial real estate development in Montréal.

For the past 11 years, Peter has successfully combined his university and professional careers with his intense determination to enrich the educational environment which had such a strong impact on his formative years as a high school and CEGEP student at Selwyn House School and Marianopolis College. Having spent 9 years as a volunteer for CRC Robotics, Peter was offered the opportunity to take the helm of this rapidly-growing competition, and has spent the past two years as the Head Coordinator. It is by far the most rewarding endeavour he has undertaken. Through his involvement, Peter has witnessed the immense impact that hands-on learning can have on youth, instilling values of teamwork and cooperation over winning to youth, and is committed to inspiring youth to discover and pursue their passion.