This summer, the Department of Municipal Affairs was honoured to provide a four-week summer internship to five students with the Shad Valley program.

Shad Valley is committed to the �development of remarkable youth.� For over 25 years, this program has inspired some of Canada�s most promising young talent towards leadership roles by unleashing each participant�s creativity, innovation and quest for excellence. Shad Valley is known to be a life changing experience for senior high school students interested in pushing their creative and intellectual capacity to the limit.

The program follows a co-op model, offering a four-week university-based academic portion followed by a challenging summer internship.

As the host of this internship for five Shad Valley students - Alex Abbott, Alex Dias, Chetan Muram, Ankur Ralhan and Chris Williams - the Department of Municipal Affairs offered a unique work and learning experience. These young men were given an opportunity to make a valuable contribution to the work of the department and were exposed to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador as a potential employer. This was achieved through:

• Orientation to an office environment, the Department of Municipal Affairs and the Provincial Government
• Assignment of a challenging project and support work for various office functions
• Discussions with the Centre for Learning and Development
• Discussions with Human Resources on recruitment

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate two of our students - Alex Abbott and Ankur Ralhan � on recently being named RBC / Shad Valley Entrepreneurial Cup winners. This award acknowledges the innovative spirit, youthful exuberance and leadership skills of Shad Valley students. The competition is a showcase for entrepreneurship, science, engineering and technology and demonstrates what teams of bright students can create with a little opportunity and a lot of passion.

The teams that Alex and Ankur were part of won many awards including first place in the categories of best application of theme and best business plan.

The Department of Municipal Affairs was privileged to have such talented individuals with us this summer. Over the course of these four weeks, we learned as much from these five students as they learned from us.

In conclusion I would like to say that if these young men are an example of our future leaders, then I am fully confident that our future really does look bright.