Think about the last school project you did. Depending on your age, you likely used cue cards, a Bristol board or possibly a PowerPoint slideshow to get your point across.
But one West Island teenager is raising the stakes when it comes to homework assignments.
Akshay Grover is a student in the International Baccalaureate program at Pierrefonds Comphrensive High School.
For his personal project, which is supposed to incorporate everything the 16-year-old has learned during his time in the program, Akshay has decided to run the equivalent of a marathon a day, starting in Montreal and ending in Toronto.
His goal is to raise $10,000 for Childhood Cancer Canada, an organization that raises money to improve the lives of children with cancer and for cancer research.
He says he was impressed with because much of the money they raise goes directly to helping kids with cancer.
He set off on the journey Friday, Aug. 1, and if all goes well, he will arrive at the Childhood Cancer Canada offices in Toronto Aug. 13. That's a total journey of roughly 550 kilometres.
Akshay started training for the trek last summer, gradually working up to running 30 kilometres a day.
He’s been running since he was 8 years old, and is a member of his school’s track team.
He also created a 4-minute video (see below) to promote his cause and encourage people to donate.
“I bought lots of books to learn how to make the video,” he told the West Island Gazette. “It took me 80 hours on my laptop to produce. Yeah, I guess I’m the kind of kid who goes the extra mile when it comes to a project.”
For more information on Akshay's run or to donate, visit his Facebook page or his page on the Childhood Cancer Canada website.
