John Dawson
John Dawson was born on a warm summer's night in the great city of Toronto. He spent the first five years of his life living on Greenwood Ave after which time he
moved to Scarborough. Little Johnny quickly earned the respect of his colleagues in his Senior Kindergarten class when he had the foresight to bring an inflatable
Spider-Man chair with him to school in order to avoid sitting on the floor.
Nothing particularly exciting happened for the next 6 and a half years until, in his twelfth year, he discovered the guitar. Pretty much everything else became
uninteresting to our hero as he cultivated what appeared to be a natural aptitude for music. Pursuing his studies led him to the Humber College Music program and the
York University Faculty of Fine Arts. Along the way he became involved with the Office of Catholic Youth as a young volunteer and leader, the very same Office where he
now works as Program Coordinator.
When not working diligently or further developing his craft, John can be found engaging in many of life's simple pleasures. Whether a hot cup of coffee or a
leisurely stroll along one of the many picturesque laneways lining his current hometown of Aurora, John loves life. He also watches the Simpsons and Smallville a lot
because, secretly, he's always dreamed of being either Superman or a cartoon. He also likes barbecued chicken and potato chips.
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Dean Penafiel
Busy is one way to describe Dean's young life thus far and he wouldn't want it any other way. Born and raised in Scarborough, Dean has been active in the Church
since the age of 9 as an altar server at St. Boniface. He still serves today at the Sunday 7:30am Mass and is currently the Coordinator for the parish's altar servers.
His service to the Parish community expanded in the late 1990's to include Youth Ministry as well. This started with attending World Youth Day 1997 in Paris when he was
13 years of age. With increased knowledge and experience over the years, Dean was Coordinator for Youth Ministry from WYD 2002 until 2006.
In addition to being involved in parish life, Dean has been extremely active in the school community. While attending St. Michael's College School, he was in the music
program as an alto sax player. During the final 2 years of his high school, Dean decided to enter student government as Treasurer and then as Vice President. Upon
graduation, he entered St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto and continued his service to the student population as a Councillor for the St. Michael's
College Student Union. In September 2006, Dean made history as the first-ever SMCSU President of Filipino descent. He is truly grateful for the opportunity to improve
the overall university experience for St. Mike's students.
After completing undergraduate studies, Dean has continued to his academic pursuits. After taking various courses part-time since graduation, he is now studying to be a Certfied Management Accountant. Furthermore, he claims "dual-citizenship" by splitting his time between two parishes in Scarborough. Dean is proud to be working at the OCY. After being involved with the office on-an-off for the past decade through participating and volunteering in their
programming, including WYD 2005 in Cologne, Dean is excited to be a full-time member of the team.
His passion for problem solving, number-crunching and inspiring others has found a great outlet in serving the young people in the Archdiocese of Toronto.
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Born and raised in Aurora, Timothy is no stranger to the Archdiocese of Toronto; his participation in Parish events, those in Toronto’s Catholic community, as well as those of his university chaplaincy keep him on his toes.
Throughout his high school career, Timothy’s faith took on a more prominent role in his life. Participating in a number of extracurricular and volunteer activities within the Brebeuf College Community, most notably the founding of its Youth Ministry, Timothy began to more openly share his faith with others.
At the same time, Timothy became more involved in his Parish through lecturing, coordinating its Youth Ministry and, more recently, his position on Pastoral Council.
After being involved with the Office of Catholic Youth, both as a program participant and volunteer, Timothy is grateful to be working for the OCY. He hopes to use the opportunity to show his love of Christ, and nurture it in others.
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