Checking in from August 👋
It’s Gabriel, and I hope you’ve had a fantastic month! I packed August with biking, speaking invites, digital projects, and some exciting grant wins. Here’s what I’ve been up to this month:
What I’ve Been Up To 📈
Going for an award: Aiming for the Impact in Innovation Award from the City of Vancouver’s Excellence Awards. I got over 25 people to nominate me! Learn more
Biking a lot: From Vancouver to Kerrisdale and back multiple times a week (~18 km round trip). I’m confident I’ve logged over 125 km of riding this August alone.
Writing on digital wellness: Working on an article about the controversial and emerging issue of cell phones in schools, including how media education can teach students about digital wellness. Stay tuned — I’ll post it in an upcoming newsletter.
Applying to advise: Submitted a TransLink advisory committee application, focusing on accessibility improvements across the entire transit system. I applied just for fun, but it seemed worth a shot!
Reporting impact: Building an annual impact report for Oasis of Change’s 2025 activities — trees planted, in-kind tech grants, and electronics recycled.
Volunteering with devs: Supporting the Shuffle.dev team (working directly with the CEO and CTO) by testing their platform for bugs and setting up their Discord server.
Exploring nature: Wandered through Squamish forestry near Alice Lake — quiet trails, towering trees, and much-needed fresh air.
Achievements & Highlights 🏆
Speaking at TMU 🎤
I’ve been invited to Toronto Metropolitan University to speak on an intergenerational panel at the URL to IRL event. I’ll be joining leaders and innovators to discuss responsible screen time use and digital wellness — excited to bring a youth perspective to the conversation.
Recognized for accessibility 🏅
I’ve been named a Youth Accessibility Leader 2024, receiving a Certificate of Recognition from Service Canada. As part of this initiative, I partnered with the West End Seniors' Network and successfully secured a $7K government grant to improve their website accessibility and make their digital resources more inclusive for all. Check out my certificate below:
Encouragement from the Governor General 📬
Remember how I applied for viceregal patronage last month? I heard back from the Governor General’s team! While the official endorsement wasn’t possible this round, they cheered us on for the work Oasis of Change and Web-Ready are doing to plant trees and build sustainable websites. I’ll happily take that encouragement — onward we go! 🚀Grant success for the Denman Place Mall 💰
I helped the Denman Place Mall secure a $120K/year Google Ads grant, expanding their digital reach through in-kind advertising and online visibility.10 million views on Unsplash ✨
My photography on Unsplash just crossed 10,000,000 views! Grateful to everyone who’s downloaded, shared, or used one of my photos.
Quotes 💬
“I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.”
— Babe Ruth
“If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”
— Often attributed to Mark Twain
“Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”
— Warren Buffett
Curious about my past adventures?
Catch up on all my previous updates in the newsletter archive. You never know what gem you might find!
Shoutouts 👏
Ashna Alifrom the Dais team for inviting me to speak at the URL to IRL event — hosted at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Matthieu Pinauldt, founder of NoDataNoBusiness, for supporting youth entrepreneurs with an increase in credits on his platform
What’s Next? 🚀
Heading to Toronto ✈️: I’ve been invited to the TMU campus to speak on an intergenerational panel about responsible screen time use — excited to join the conversation.
Looking ahead 🎓: Got my schedule for Grade 12, and I’m starting to consider my university options seriously.
Quick Ask 🙏
Know someone who’d enjoy following a young entrepreneur’s journey? Please forward this email and invite them to subscribe — every new reader helps me grow and keeps the adventure going.
Best,
Gabriel Dalton
P.S. Want more behind-the-scenes? For more in-depth discussions, check out my LinkedIn or Medium profiles.