2026 Distinguished Service Award Winners

Honouring Excellence and Dedication: Meet Our 2026 Distinguished Service Award Winners

Youth Science Canada proudly recognizes ten exceptional individuals with the 2026 Distinguished Service Award. This prestigious recognition celebrates those who have made outstanding contributions to youth STEM development across Canada through their innovation, dedication, and leadership.

The Distinguished Service Award honours individuals who have significantly impacted Youth Science Canada’s mission to empower Canadian youth to engage their curiosity in discovering and innovating through STEM projects. These remarkable recipients have strengthened our programs at every level, from regional STEM fairs to national initiatives.

Aidan Leach

Renfrew County, Ontario
Aidan Leach is a nuclear regulatory professional with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, with a background in chemical engineering and health physics. Raised on a farm in Micksburg, Ontario, he now lives in Petawawa with his wife Ruxandra and two young children, who are already lobbying — loudly — for the RCRSTF to lower its “totally unfair” Grade 5 entry requirement.
Aidan never participated in a science fair as a student; he simply didn’t know they existed. That gap became his motivation. Since taking on the chair of the Renfrew County Regional Science and Technology Fair in 2015, he has worked to ensure that no student in the region has to miss out the way he did. He liaisons with teachers and parents, judges more than ten local school fairs each year, and has attended the CWSF as Renfrew County’s delegate for over a decade.
His most memorable moment captures what makes him tick: after a discouraging stretch of unanswered emails to university professors on behalf of a student, that student, who had once barely been able to speak at a fair from nerves, started cold-calling researchers across the country on their own. It led to a collaboration, and eventually a CWSF medal. Aidan is still in awe of it. What keeps him coming back, he says, is walking into any project zone and feeling the wave of enthusiasm and willingness to just figure things out.

Youth Science Canada - Celebrating Innovation and Education

Dan Bowman

Bay Area Science and Engineering Fair, Ontario
A retired Hamilton Police Service officer and recipient of the Governor General’s Member of the Order of Merit for innovative thinking in policing and community service, Dan Bowman has spent his retirement doing what he’s always done, showing up for others. Whether travelling across Canada with his camper trailer or spending time with his four children and grandchildren, community is at the centre of everything he does.
Dan’s science fair journey began in 1999, when his eldest son Jordan started competing in grade 4. All four of his children followed the same path, and the impact he saw it have on them set the hook for good. Over more than two decades, he has held virtually every role at BASEF: from facilities coordinator and scientific review committee co-chair to Co-Chair of the fair itself, a position he held for seven years, including through the pandemic. As lead delegate at the CWSF, he is known for the infectious energy he brings from the moment his “Good Morning, Campers!” bellow echoes down the residence hallways.
His most vivid memory remains his first CWSF awards ceremony at Roy Thomson Hall in 2011, a packed house, provincial chants ricocheting across the room, and the anthem bringing it all to silence, a feeling of pride settling among the crowd. He’s been chasing that feeling ever since.

Favian Yee

South Fraser Regional Science Fair, British Columbia
A recently retired physics teacher and self-described science fiction enthusiast, Favian Yee spends his downtime playing acoustic guitar on a collection of fine Canadian-made instruments, working on his golf game, and keeping company with Daisy; a 4.0 kg scrappy terrier rescue from California.
Favian’s science fair journey began through his role as District Science Coordinator, when he brought together Simon Fraser University, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey School District, Delta School District, and the Science Fair Foundation of BC to create something that hadn’t existed before: the South Fraser Regional Science Fair. When budget cuts ended his coordinator role after three years, he stayed on as a committee member and Delta School District liaison. In 2014, he was asked to take over as Chair, a role he held for 11 years until his retirement from teaching in August 2025.
Over that time, Favian attended at least seven CWSFs as a delegate, watching finalists grow into themselves year after year. His most vivid memory from those trips is the 2016 CWSF in Montreal, where he received the Canadian Association of Physicists Excellence in Teaching High School Physics Award in front of his science fair community, at McGill University, the same year Chris Hadfield took the stage as keynote speaker. Talk about a memorable year!

John Todd

Simcoe County, Ontario
A retired elementary educator from Ontario’s Simcoe County, John spent 31 years coaching sports and running noon-hour clubs that sparked student curiosity in everything from horticulture to chess. His love of local history has since found a home in the Facebook group “Huronia’s Past and Present” and a decade of service on the Tay Township Heritage Committee.
John’s science fair story began in 1976, when the enthusiasm of young scientists at his very first fair left him, in his own words, hooked. Over the next five decades, he grew from classroom teacher to area fair chair to a long-serving mainstay of the Simcoe County Science Fair committee, taking on roles spanning chairing, fundraising, judging, and special guests. He also served as delegate and chaperone at six Canada-Wide Science Fairs, collecting memories along the way: shaking hands with Bill Nye, summoning the courage to cross a walking bridge over the raging Yukon River, and standing beneath the territory’s first wind turbine.
What has kept John coming back, year after year, is the people; the committee camaraderie, the generous support of parents and community partners, and the particular satisfaction of seeing former CWSF participants return to serve on the county committee themselves.

Jon Pittman

Peace Country, Alberta
Jon Pittman is a husband, father of three, and educator in Peace River, Alberta, where football has taken over the household; all three of his kids play competitively, and he coaches alongside them. When he’s not on the sidelines, Jon can be found hunting and fishing, performing with his band, or emceeing events through his small entertainment business, Sideline Entertainment.
Jon’s entry into science fairs came naturally from a lifelong fascination with science you can see, smell, and touch. As a teacher, he was captivated by the ideas students were bringing to the fair floor and soon helped launch a local fair for schools in the Peace River community. When the opportunity arose to take on the regional fair, Jon and a dedicated team built the Peace Country Regional Science Fair into a premier event for students across northwestern Alberta, one he continues to lead as president.
The moment that sealed his commitment at the national level came at the 2010 CWSF in Toronto, where he was so impressed by the event, projects, and the community of STEM supporters. Seeing Team UV’s organization and energy, he vowed to join them, doing exactly that in 2016 and has been part of the volunteer team ever since. Ask Jon what he finds most rewarding, and he’ll point to the closing night dance; judging is done, awards have been given, and students from across the country simply come together to celebrate each other.

Mervat Yehia

Northern Manitoba, Manitoba
An educator with more than 30 years of teaching experience, Mervat Yehia is a proud immigrant, mother, and grandmother who came to Canada from Egypt and built a life rooted in education, community, and lifelong learning. Outside of school, she enjoys creative crafts and championing initiatives that empower students and teachers alike.
Mervat’s belief in curiosity-driven learning drew her to science fairs, and over nearly 12 years she has grown into one of the community’s most dedicated leaders. At the national level, she served successively as Member at Large, Vice President, and President of the National Science Fair Committee, bringing thoughtful leadership and a deep commitment to volunteers and regional fairs across the country. She continues today as Regional Coordinator for Northern Manitoba, a role that carries particular weight given the geographic scale and resource challenges of the region. Her work has helped ensure that students in Northern Manitoba have genuine opportunities to participate in science, research, and innovation.
What keeps her going is simple: seeing students discover what they are capable of, and knowing she played a small part in that.

Science presenter explaining experiment at Youth Science Canada event

Michael Edwards

South-East New Brunswick, New Brunswick
Originally from Scotland where science fairs didn’t exist, a fact he admits still makes him a little envious, Michael Edwards moved to Canada in 1992 and found his way to Science East as a volunteer. That role quietly became a career, and he now serves as Chief Science Officer, leading the Fredericton-based non-profit’s mission to inspire curiosity through hands-on science experiences. Outside of work, he hosts a regular science segment on CBC Radio, and fills his time with music, video games, travel, and his cats.
Michael was drawn into the science fair world more than 20 years ago when he was asked to judge, and has never looked back. Each year, he mentors New Brunswick’s CWSF-bound students, handles team registration, and makes the trip to the national fair as both delegate and chaperone. He also contributed to the development of New Brunswick’s science curriculum and delivers professional learning for teachers throughout the province.
What keeps him coming back is a sense of continuity. He thinks often about the teachers who fuelled his own curiosity growing up, and tries to be that person for students today. His most vivid recent memory is the look of pure surprise on a Team NB member’s face when their gold medal was announced in Ottawa at CWSF 2024: a photo he now uses in every science fair presentation he gives.

Youth Science Canada - Inspiring Future Innovators

Ron Cherkewski

Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair, Ontario
A Design Engineer with more than 40 years of experience in the civil and waste sectors, Ron Cherkewski has built a career around solving problems, a skill he brings equally to the science fair floor. Outside of engineering, he volunteers completing around 200 free income tax returns each year for low-income earners, and stays closely involved in family life with his wife and two grown children.
Ron’s connection to science dates back to a papier-mâché baking-soda volcano in grade school, and he’s been finding more sophisticated ways to engage with it ever since. He began volunteering with WWSEF more than 25 years ago and has since served 12 times as a CWSF delegate for WWSEF finalists, taking on roles in judging, logistics, coaching, and mentoring along the way.
What draws him back every year isn’t the top prizes, it’s the students who don’t win them. Ron makes a point of spending time with finalists who leave without ribbons or awards, because, as he puts it, they have a voice that deserves to be heard. Watching young people pour themselves into their work, regardless of outcome, is what keeps his commitment firmly in place.

Youth Science Canada - Woman with earrings and blue shirt

Sally Telford

Simcoe County, Ontario
Sally Telford is a kindergarten teacher with 30 years in the classroom at Oakley Park Public School in Simcoe County, though she’ll tell you that some of her favourite people came into her life not through kindergarten, but through science fair. She got involved as a fairly new teacher, joined the committee, met some amazing people, and, as she puts it, it just blossomed from there.
Over more than two decades, Sally became the heart of the Simcoe County Science and Technology Fair. She served as emcee, treasurer, and registration coordinator, and was the one reliably standing on stage in her iconic polka-dot lab coat, playing a theme song, running trivia, handing out prizes, and making sure every student who walked through the door felt like a winner before the judging even began. She mentored students through the CWSF process, helped schools navigate independent registration, championed the fair’s first French-speaking student, and kept the whole operation running through ice storms and a pandemic.
Her most memorable moments are many: convincing a city bus driver to drop the whole team at their door at the national fair, pivoting the fair at the last minute when circumstances demanded it, and the day a student climbed up to the stage to tell her that their favourite thing about science fair was her.

Sandy MacDougall

Halifax Sci-Tech Expo, Nova Scotia
Sandy MacDougall is Director of Digital/Virtual Learning at the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, a career that spans teaching both junior high students and adults. He lives in Bedford, Nova Scotia with his partner, and fills his time outside of work with gardening, cooking, theatre, and home improvement projects.
Sandy’s path to science fairs was shaped early: first by two science professors at Nova Scotia Teachers College who championed hands-on, inquiry-based learning, and then by a practicum placement with a teacher whose name, as Sandy notes, is quite familiar in CWSF circles (Steve Karrel). Those experiences planted a seed that took root years later when he was invited to co-chair the Halifax Sci-Tech Expo. He accepted without hesitation and has been part of HSTE for over 16 years, serving as registrar, treasurer, and a steady organizational anchor for the fair.
Ask Sandy for a single memorable moment and he’ll tell you there are too many to choose from. What stays with him most isn’t any one event, but a pattern: young people who arrive as strangers and leave as friends, building connections across a week at CWSF or across years of returning to the fair. Those relationships, he says, sometimes offer a kind of peer support that no adult can fully replicate, and they’re what give him hope for a bright future.

The Legacy of Service

The contributions of these Distinguished Service Award recipients extend far beyond their individual roles. Their collective efforts have strengthened our national STEM fair network, inspired countless young scientists, and helped build a more inclusive and innovative scientific community across Canada.

Through their leadership, mentorship, and tireless commitment, our award recipients have created opportunities for youth to explore their curiosity and develop their potential in STEM. We celebrate their achievements and thank them for their invaluable contributions to youth science in Canada.

The Distinguished Service Award is Youth Science Canada’s highest honour for individuals who have made exceptional contributions to our organization and its mission. Recipients are nominated by their peers and selected based on their long-term impact, innovation, and dedication to youth STEM development in Canada. Learn more about Youth Science Canada’s awards and view past recipients here.