Two GNS Students Honoured with 2026 Oak Bay YES Awards

Every year, the District Oak Bay celebrates students in Grade 6 to 12 with the Young Exceptional Star (YES) Awards, recognizing positive achievements and accomplishments. GNS students who live in Oak Bay were eligible to be nominated, and two GNS students Shreesha Ramandev ’26 and Clementine Germain ’26 won and were honoured on February 25, 2026. 

The awards aim to recognize outstanding students who “distinguished themselves in areas such as volunteerism, arts, citizenship, academics, athletics and/or who have overcome obstacles to achieve their goals. The YES awards are a great way to recognize youth in Oak Bay and encourage them to continue to make a positive contribution to the community. These youth send a message of hope to the community that the next generation is full of promise and inspire us all to do our part to make a difference.”

Congratulations Shreesha and Clementine, the GNS community is very proud of you!

Shreesha Ramandev ’26

Shreesha was nominated by University Guidance Advisor Ms. Angela Colibaba, who shared the following: 

Shreesha is an exceptional all-around person. Academically, she constantly strives for top results, and, being very reflective, she is quick to implement teacher feedback in her learning process. She is the kind of student who truly cares about the quality of her work, and she takes pride in what she produces. Her teachers express that she is a hardworking and intellectually talented student who consistently demonstrates focus and determination, and that her combination of ability, work ethic, and interpersonal skills makes her an exemplary student. Shreesha is also a very creative person. As a talented musician in Instrumental Band she demonstrates strong musical skills, particularly with challenging rhythmic parts, but balances this with a kind and welcoming mentorship of younger students, encouraging them to take on important roles. Shreesha demonstrates a superb level of dedication and commitment to everything she does both at school and in the broader community. 

Shreesha’s leadership in community service is remarkable both in its scope and in its impact. As a Middle School student during COVID-19, when there was an urgent need for safe protective equipment, Shreesha created reusable masks and then donated them to Our Place Society. This is where she also donated over 1,000 hygiene products after she helped to organize two dental hygiene drives. You can literally see the impact of her fundraising by admiring the colourful mural in Children’s Ward at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, for which she helped to raise $800. These initiatives demonstrate both her ability to anticipate community needs and her dedication to addressing them with practical, hands-on solutions. These skills were supported when Shreesha was a team leader at Code Hack 2025, where she guided her peers, working collaboratively with professionals, in the development of an innovative solution for the betterment of Island Health patient care, called Pro-ACTION. Similarly, her leadership role as a Service Prefect at GNS highlights her natural capacity to lead with integrity and foster a spirit of service among her peers. Shreesha’s contributions extend into global affairs in her role as Head Co-chair of the GNS Round Square, a committee that supports service activity and responsibility through projects related to internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, adventure, leadership. 

Despite her heavy academic load, Shreesha regularly commits herself to meaningful and impactful community service. She has been an active and loyal volunteer for the Step Up Youth program at the Royal Jubilee Hospital, where she works one-on-one with patients to offer companionship and provide valuable support to patients and staff alike. In addition, Shreesha trains and competes within the sport of fencing and has been doing so for the better part of the last six years. Over the years, she has also been sharing her talents as a dedicated Fencing Assistant Coach with OSM Club and, now UVic- positively influencing the confidence of younger students through mentorship. Shreesha, the ‘caring initiator’, brings people together, models the values of service and leadership, and elevates the communities she serves.

Clementine Germain ’26

Clementine was nominated by the Climate Action Now Teacher Sponsor Ms. Jennie Greven who shared the following:

I have had the pleasure of teaching and working with Clementine throughout her Middle and Senior School years at Glenlyon Norfolk School, and am consistently impressed by her passion, commitment to service, strong leadership skills, and grit. 

Clementine has always been passionate about the environment and works hard to create change in her community, shown at school by her leadership in both the Climate Action Now (CAN) and Round Square clubs throughout her years in the Middle and Senior schools for initiatives such as planning and implementing a new waste sorting system for the campus; running clothing swaps with donations going to WIN and Our Place; Earth week activities; invasive species pulls; and more. She mentors younger students, supporting them to be leaders themselves on projects they care about with encouragement, kindness, and wisdom earned through her experience in advocacy both at school and in the community. 

When in Grade 10, Clementine was the impetus for starting up the CAN club again after the break imposed by the pandemic; she saw a need to shift the culture at our school and took it upon herself to make it happen. This year, in addition to these clubs, Clementine was voted to be the Advocacy Prefect for which she has delved into topics such as climate change and waste management, childhood cancer, Residential Schools, Settler Colonialism, and Black History Month, and has presented them to the Senior School in assembly with passion and sensitivity.

While watching Clementine work her magic at school, I also witnessed the impacts her academic and health challenges had on her. Clementine is a very bright student who succeeds in her courses by using strategies to work with her learning disabilities and mental health challenges. She normalizes neurodiversity within her social groups and the general school community through openness and her approachable nature. When Clementine was in Grade 8, she began missing a lot of school due to health-related challenges, which over the years were revealed to be significant diagnoses that cause her a lot of pain and fatigue in addition to taking her out of school to spend extended amounts of time in BC Children’s Hospital for testing and monitoring. Despite this, Clementine has always maintained high expectations of herself, never using her challenges as excuses for achieving less than what she’s capable of. She showed grit by pushing through pain to be part of our Senior School Cross Country team over the last four years, for which she competed at the BC High Schools Provincial Championships every year! 

Clementine’s experience has informed her passion for helping people facing health challenges in the community; she raises awareness at school; has fundraised over $5000 for BC Children’s Hospital by participating in runs and the festival of trees twice – she was also one of the kids featured in the campaign last year; and done youth and health care advocacy by writing a couple of articles for the Daily Hive Vancouver. Clementine is a team lead volunteer at the Royal Jubilee Hospital for the Step Up Youth program for which she organized a book drive at our school. 

Her response to her life experiences has shone a light on her strength of character and determination to achieve her goals for both herself and her community despite setbacks.