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Gavin Howells has been named as one of the recipients of the Outstanding Youth Achievement Awards by the Yukon Government.

Howells, 18, was surprised by the award.

鈥淚t was like, totally out of the blue and something that I didn鈥檛 expect 鈥� but I was so happy to hear about it,鈥� he said.

鈥淚t was just like, a big surprise. Definitely I felt super happy, super honoured ... it鈥檚 a wonderful achievement. Still almost surreal to have posters of me around town.鈥�

According to a YG press release, Howells was the first Yukon student to receive gold medals in both the junior and senior categories of the Canada Wide Science Fair. He represented Team Canada at the MILSET International Science Fair in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and presented his research to Prime Minister Trudeau. He also played on the Yukon 2022 Canada Summer Games soccer team.

鈥淚 guess it started with science fairs and then soccer in Grade 7,鈥� related Howells. 鈥淚 just always tried to do my best in school and my extracurricular activities and it鈥檚 not that it鈥檚 ever felt like a chore. I鈥檝e always enjoyed doing the activities that I鈥檝e done.

鈥淎nd more recently with the science fair outreach, judging science fairs and other stuff like reffing soccer 鈥� it鈥檚 just been really good to give back to my community because the reason I was able to do all these things was because I had so many people who were supporting me. So many people in Science Fair that were supporting me, soccer coaches, teachers, and then of course my parents were just like, there for me all the time and many other people in the community.鈥�

Along the way, Howell has had tremendous support from his parents and a couple of key mentors.

鈥淚鈥檝e had so much support from my parents, especially my mom with science fair projects,鈥� recalled Howells. 鈥淔or my vaping project, she would go and get the vaping liquid and e-cigarettes for me because I couldn鈥檛, so I could experiment with them.

鈥淚 have to extend a huge thank you to Michael Gallant ... he was one of the people who nominated me. My favourite teacher, probably 鈥� he just inspired me a lot to stick with science and that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 here in university. One of the reasons why I decided to go into microbiology is he 鈥� like, my science fairs, he just showed me more (of) what was possible and helped prepare me.

Gallant was Howells鈥� science and biology teacher in Grade 10.

鈥淎nd then a big thank you to David Michayluk, who was the other person who nominated me 鈥� the way I met him was through (Canada Wide) Science Fair. He was a chaperone at the science fair in 鈥� New Brunswick. He was an awesome, fun chaperone, like, an amazing guy to talk to and then he鈥檚 been an amazing support. He let me present my research to his class. He鈥檚 helped connect me with Science Fair people for like, judging science fairs and trying to stay involved with science fairs and he鈥檚 really helped with that, so he鈥檚 just been a great connection to the science fair world and another great mentor for me.

鈥淗e helped me get my whole public outreach campaign started, which was a big part of my project.鈥�

Howells is studying for a degree in microbiology at the University of Victoria.

鈥淚 intend to continue with it. My aspirations are to become a doctor someday, so I鈥檓 doing my best to do well in university and have lots of good extracurriculars in university too so I can get into med school.

鈥淚鈥檓 really interested in microbiology because of my science fair projects, and then in biology class, that was the part of biology that I was really interested in, was micro-organisms and how they relate to all sorts of parts of our daily lives. I鈥檓 trying to do it as a basis, so it鈥檚 like an undergraduate degree before med school. Probably looking towards immunology as a specialization in med school,鈥� he added.

Howells currently plays soccer for Bays United in the Vancouver Island Soccer League.

鈥淚鈥檓 playing with a local Division 1 team right now in Victoria. That鈥檚 a couple nights a week and then games. Maybe I鈥檒l try to be involved in intramurals. I don鈥檛 know if I鈥檒l have time, though. And then there鈥檚 a couple of clubs 鈥� we just had our club day, so I was looking at a couple of clubs I was interested in, too.

鈥淚鈥檓 learning a lot about soccer here, having only played with one team my entire life.鈥�

Howells had a memorable soccer experience at the 2022 Canada Summer Games.

鈥淚t was awesome. Our team performed really well. It was a lot of fun.鈥�