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The Toronto Zoo receives LEO Award for Creativity in Education The Leo Award is named after Leonardo da Vinci who is a true icon of the renaissance person - a painter, inventor, visionary, mathematician, philosopher, animal lover, conservationist and engineer. He used what he learned in one discipline and applied it to another. As part of Creativity & Innovation Day Celebrations, The Leo Award is given to individuals and groups who use their creativity to make the world a better place and make their place in the world better too. People who create new dimensions of performance in business, education, and the arts. The Toronto Zoo won the Leo Award for the community based program "Operation Conservation", the first of its kind at the Zoo. Operation Conservation seeks to provide enriching experiences for "At-Risk" youth inspiring them to contribute positively to their communities and school. Student participants engage in a number of hands on and behind the scene activities with the aim of providing a link to the environment and an understanding of conservation issues. The program is a grant funded one, and is currently being funded by the Tippet Foundation, and Geoffrey H. Wood foundation in the Jane-Finch community, and by the Promoscience program of the Natural Science and Engineering Council of Canada in Scarborough's Malvern community. |