Seventeen-year-old Samuel Sweet is trying to make the world a better place.
A Grade 12 honour student at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in the city’s South End, Samuel takes the extracurricular as seriously as the curricular. He’s involved with the school’s student council, as well as the board’s student senate. Samuel is a member of Sudbury’s Youth Advisory Panel, too.
While he’s interested in graphic design, and has participated in formal debates covering a variety of topics, Samuel said he is most at home in the role of advocate.
“I find the process of advocacy quite fun,” the teen said. “You get to meet plenty of amazing people and attend fascinating events. And I feel like it’s my duty as a citizen to push for a better society.”
Samuel’s various interests combine to drive the issue he’s most passionate about: public transit.
“My work in graphic design, coding, scheduling and marketing naturally comes together with public transit. It’s a field where many disciplines overlap: Graphic design shapes the wayfinding materials that guide riders; coding makes it possible to share accurate bus schedules online; precise scheduling keeps everything running smoothly, and; good marketing helps secure funding and attract new riders,” he said.
“Because I have interests and knowledge about these fields, I have noticed many things that can be implemented at GOVA to both improve rider experience and increase efficiency. I choose to focus on GOVA specifically because it’s an organization that I oftentimes rely on.
“I am very familiar with its operations. It’s publicly funded by taxpayer dollars, so I want to see the system be efficient with money. It’s run by the municipal government, a democratic organization which, in theory, is meant to follow the will of its citizens.”
Discussing the importance of the issue, Samuel said more convenient transit leads to more people using transit, and consequently fewer people driving. Better transit allows people who are unable to drive the opportunity to get around and participate in society. This leads to increased economic activity for local businesses, Samuel said.
“Making transit convenient reduces the amount of tailpipe emissions from vehicles by having less people driving,” he said. “It significantly reduces ground and water pollution caused by microplastics in tires, and if popular enough, a city may even be able to reclaim paved surfaces like roads and parking lots to turn them into public greenspaces, which would reduce the burden on wastewater systems.”
And Samuel has had some success.
Due to his efforts, Greater Sudbury is exploring the possibility of eliminating bus fares for high school students in Sudbury.
“This program will have an enormous impact on all students in Sudbury, allowing them to get to jobs, extracurricular activities and sports without the need to get a parent to drive them,” he said.
Not done there, Samuel also presented a petition to city council this past spring, having collected more than 500 signatures through a website he set up to advocate for expanded service hours for city buses.
Asked about his future, Sweet said, “I hope to go to university and study either marketing or political science, then find a career in politics and maybe start my own business.”
Samuel Sweet’s words of inspiration
“Try incorporating public transit into your life, even if you just use it a few times. You will be pleasantly surprised.”
James Stewart is a writer in North Bay. Inspire is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.