Mélissa Brunet (right) helps 11-year-old Yasmin Doust with her French homework at the Cumberland library.
“I’m really excited and it should be a lot of fun, except it is right after my chemistry exam,” Mélissa Brunet exclaims with a laugh.
On Dec. 12, Brunet, 19, will carry the Olympic torch into Marion Dewar Plaza representing the City of Ottawa. She’ll also be writing a three-hour chemistry exam the day before.
Needless to say, it will be hard for Brunet to keep her mind on science the night before one of the most memorable events of her life.
The city chose Brunet as torch bearer because of her tireless volunteer work at a number of city sites. So extensive is her volunteering that she won the Citizen of the Year, Youth award at Ottawa’s civic appreciation night in April.
Brunet, who lives in Orleans and is fully bilingual, addressed city council in both French and English on last month when Mayor Larry O’Brien introduced her as Ottawa’s torch bearer.
But until the day she sports the Olympic track suit and carries the historic torch – touched by so many great Canadians before her – Brunet will stay focused on her day-to-day life, a true test of time balance.
Brunet juggles a full-time biomedical sciences schedule at the University of Ottawa with volunteer activities, a part-time job, jiu-jitsu training and somewhere in between a social life.
“It gets hard, but at the end of the day I am happy with what I do,” says Brunet. “It’s just finding the right balance really.”
Right now, school is her priority. Brunet’s program is often a breeding ground for medical school students. But Brunet realizes the challenges of getting accepted to medical school and knows she just wants to help people.
So Brunet is currently looking for summer job opportunities at a hospital to get a feel for the health care environment.
“It would be nice to know if I could take blood before I go to med school,” says Brunet.
In addition to work experience, medical school applicants must have volunteer work – an area Brunet excels in.
She is a very active volunteer for cancer research, participating in the 60-kilometre walk for breast cancer the past four years, raising more than $14,000.
In Grade 10, Brunet cut off 14 inches of her hair and donated it, so a wig could be made for a child with cancer. This marvelled her jiu-jitsu instructor, Brian Aylward, who says he thinks it would be tough decision for a girl trying to fit in.
“I did research on cancer and it really touched me,” says Brunet. “I saw that it can affect anybody so why not do my part.”
Brunet would later find out first-hand that it can touch anyone. After one year of participating in the walk Brunet found out her mother had breast cancer.
She raised a lot of money for breast cancer and every year she raises more, says Aylward. “She was doing all this before she had a personal connection and interest in it.”
Her mother has recently recovered after treatment and this year, was able to complete the walk with Brunet. Thanks in part to the money her daughter raised.
Brunet also gives her time as a jiu-jitsu instructor, where she has been teaching for eight years. She teaches the “Little Dragon” program, with kids age’s three to five. They learn the basics of jiu-jitsu, including fitness, general street smarts and active living.
“She’s done so much more than any other student I have ever known, she goes well above and beyond,” says Aylward.
It is here at 100% Martial Arts that Brunet developed her skills working with people.
“She came to me and she was a very timid little girl,” says Aylward. “Very quiet, very shy, wouldn’t make eye contact. Now she has blossomed into this person who is outgoing and charismatic.”
But helping people is nothing new for Brunet – she has been actively volunteering in her community for many years.
In high school, she and a friend organized a program called “exposé” in partnership with Ottawa’s Public Health Branch. It aimed to convince young people to quit smoking and effectively banned tobacco products in Brunet’s high school.
“When I researched I saw how bad it was and how people are addicted to these chemicals,” says Brunet. “The more I learned about it, the more I became motivated and driven to do it.”
As a university student, Brunet looked for something else.
“When I wasn’t out working with exposé as much, I really felt that I should be doing something because I had the time.”
But Brunet eventually found a new project, volunteering bi-weekly as a respite care assistant at Rogers House, a paediatric palliative care hospice for children located at the University of Ottawa Health Sciences Centre.
Her tasks at Rogers House are always changing, one day she might be cuddling a baby for four hours and then next day playing mini hockey with another child. But one thing is consistent; she is always working directly with the children.
“One of the more intense positions is the people who work directly with the children and the nurses, helping the nurses provide the fun part,” says Lise Beauchemin, co-ordinator of volunteer services at Rogers House.
Most people would shy from a role like this, but Brunet finds a simple pleasure working at Rogers House.
“They don’t get to do anything that normal children get to do and most of them are confined to a bed or a chair,” says Brunet. “So just to make them have fun and to see a smile on their face at the end of my shift, or even if they are able to give me a hug, is really rewarding to me.”
Brunet’s part time job as a tutor helps young kids in her community. She tutors twice a week at the Cumberland Public Library near her home in Orleans.
“I really love interacting with the kids, teaching stuff and seeing that they are learning,” she says.
Because of her community contributions, Aylward says Brunet is probably the best choice he can think of to represent Ottawa.
“She is honest and trustworthy,” says Aylward. “She is humble in her opinions; she doesn’t show off or showcase her skills other than when you ask her to.”
Being torch bearer holds a special place in her heart.
“It feels incredible that I will be a part of that group of people who have had the honour of carrying the torch."
The Olympic torch symbolizes peace between continents and between Olympians during the games. Brunet acts as a symbol of peace in her community, helping people anyway she can.
Her efforts are praised by Beauchemin, who says the Rogers house operation would not be possible without volunteer support.
“She’s got the right concepts, she has the right attitude in life and she will succeed in life and go very far,” Aylward adds. “If more people knew that about her, I think more people would be willing to give back.”