It’s Future Leaders Day.
We are profiling Carson Kitchen.
Kitchen was born in Hamilton but raised in Simcoe his entire life.
Ever since an early age, Kitchen had been interested in making a difference – starting off in student councils beginning in Grade 4.
In Grade 7, he applied and was successful in getting funding for his small business through the county named Poo Patrol.
The idea: he charged people to go to their yards and clean up animal waste.
He successfully ran this businesses for a few years before handing it off to another young entrepreneur, who still runs it to this day.
Now, Kitchen is a Student Trustee within the Grand Erie District School Board.
As a trustee, Kitchen takes the role of being the voice of the students very seriously.
Whether it be talking to superintendents about things like learning models throughout the pandemic or speaking out regarding student issues, he wanted to make sure their thoughts were taken into consideration.
He said a student trustee voice is vital because they are the people living through the decisions made on the top end, and they have that first hand experience that others do not.
Kitchen made some headlines going to the press back in January, speaking out for students who really did want to return to in-person learning, but were asking for more time off so they could access vaccines before the return back to school.
He said it was a big eye opening experience for him, seeing the positive feedback for standing up for those students but also the outpouring of negative comments directed towards him and what he was trying to achieve online.
Right now, Kitchen continues to speak for the students locally, but also as part of the Ontario Student Trustees Association.
He offered this piece of advice for fellow students.
Like most Grade 12 students, he is holding down a part time job and is also part of the air cadets in Brantford.
Kitchen was recently accepted to the Military College in Kingston for a 4-year bachelor in business administration.
His goal is to be a logistics officer in the air force.
His full interview can be found below: