Opera singer voted National Metis Youth Role Model

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Melody Mercredi, 23, from Vancouver, is this year's National Metis Youth Role Model in the career advancement category.

She completed her bachelor's degree in opera performance at the Vancouver Academy of Music last year.

"I sing because nothing else is more fulfilling. I have always loved to sing and have always loved a challenge.

"Opera is by far the most difficult genre to sing. To sing opera requires great technical ability, vocal stamina, a good sense of character, and the most important ingredient-passion," said Mercredi.

"I performed in the trio the Prayer on the 2001 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards along with fellow Native singers Carey and Marion Newman. It was a fabulous experience," she recalled.

"My teacher David Meek has been working with me for only a year, and with his professional training I feel I am on my way to becoming a great opera singer. In the summer, I will be performing the role of Giulietta from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman in Vancouver."

Mercredi describes herself as a very hard worker who is dedicated to her art.

The National Metis Youth Role Model Program-similar to the National Native Role Model Program for First Nations and Inuit-is now in its second year.

"The Metis youth decided to have their own type of role model program . . . it's designed to get youth out there to live healthy, positive lifestyles. The youth that are selected get to attend different conferences, to facilitate workshops . . . it's kind of networking where they encourage other youth out there within the same field whether it's athletics or arts," said Pauline Huppie, director of Youth Initiatives with Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres.

The program has seven categories: Metis culture and heritage, volunteer service, academic achievement, athletic excellence, personal achievement, career advancement, and the Gabriel Dumont Award for Valour, which goes to a youth who displays courage or who carries out a selfless act that benefits others.

One winner is selected in each category by a seven-member committee made up of Metis citizens from all walks of life, said Huppie.

There were no nominees in the athletic category or in the Gabriel Dumont Award this year, Huppie said.

People nominating a youth for an award have to write a two-page description about why they feel this youth would fit into a certain category.

The nominated youth, aged between 16 and 29, has to fill out an application form, provide three letters of support from their teachers or other authorities, and provide other supporting documentation like a video or a piece of artwork.