Stand Up for Student Well-Being has been delivering effective programs for six years in Ontario. More than 2000 young people have benefitted from our programs. Our program delivery model is unique and our Student “Playbooks” have been developed by educators to maximize the impact on learning. Due to the critical and extensive need for this kind of programming, we are proud to be a registered charitable organization in Ontario, Canada to expand our work.
We would like you to meet our highly dedicated Staff Team.
Creative Team
Joel Buxton
Creative Director
We are thrilled to announce the addition of Joel Buxton to our team as Creative Director, who will be working with us to develop new and exciting programs for our comedy camps. Joel is a comedian and former highschool teacher with a strong background in stand-up, sketch comedy and screenwriting. He is looking forward to applying his experience to enrich our comedy camps experience. Joel has performed stand-up comedy for over a decade, appearing at JFL42, NxNE, CBC Music Festival, and produces his own shows at Toronto’s iconic Comedy Bar. He is an alumni of the Toronto sketch supergroup The Sketchersons, has released two sketch comedy albums, and assistant directed Second City Toronto’s 79th mainstage sketch revue.
Lisa Gervais
Program Manager
Lisa Gervais approaches life playfully, connecting with others through laughter, and leveraging the power of humour in difficult and stressful situations. It’s no surprise that humour is one of Lisa’s top five character strengths. She holds a Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology from the Flourishing Center in New York City, a General Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa and a double major in English and Communications from York University. Lisa has deep experience in the planning and delivery of Experiential Learning programs and Communications and is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Redwing Institute, an outdoor adventure school.
Marc Hallworth
Lead Comedian Coach
Marc Hallworth is an actor, comedian and writer, who regularly does stand-up, sketch and improv comedy. He was part of NXNE and was a semi-finalist in the Toronto Comedy Brawl, and his sketch troupe Vest of Friends has won the Toronto SketchFest Best of the Fest Award, the Montreal SketchFest Best of the Fest Award, the Columbus Brew-ha-ha Producer’s Pick Award, as well as being named one of bite.ca’s “10 Troupes You Need To See Right Now.”Trevor Burnett
Lead Comedian Coach
Trevor Burnett is a graduate of the Second City Workshop Training Centre and brings a unique comedic stage performance experience with groups such as The Second City and Theatre Passe Muraille. He was People to People Citizen Ambassador and Delegate to Rwanda, Production Assistant for Late Night with Conan O’Brien and winner of the Toronto Theatre Alliance – Second City Annual Cross Cultural Scholarship.Jeremy Dobski
Lead Comedian Coach
Jeremy Dobski has been a coach with Stand Up For Student Well Being since 2017 and is an award winning stand up comedian and podcaster, with a background in writing, music and acting. He has toured across North America working with big names in comedy and entertainment, while finding his home at several Toronto comedy clubs. His sense of humour is varied between dark and honest to absurd and surreal. Jeremy graduated from Concordia University specializing in Creative Writing, and is most recently a certified personal trainer, health and wellness coach who focuses on the overall well being of his clients through working on motivation and behaviour change.Chili Davidson
Comedian Coach
Toronto based comedian Chili Davidson is a graduate of the Humber College Comedy Writing and Performance program where he was nominated for the Mark Breslin Award for Stand-Up Excellence. After graduating, Chili continued performing stand-up, sketch and improv comedy in such venues and festivals as Yuk Yuks, Comedy Bar, The Bad Dog Theatre, Second City, UCB (LA) and Toronto Sketchfest. He’s also worked numerous jobs with youth including being a camp counsellor, party entertainer, and youth facilitator with the Learning Disabilities Association of Toronto District.Mike Harding
Comedian Coach
Mike Harding of Applefun Puppetry has performed professionally for over 20 years. He has conducted thousands of puppet shows at libraries, schools, and birthday parties. Mike studied Improvisational Comedy at Second City, which adds a unique and spontaneous flavour to his shows. Applefun Puppetry Puppet Shows are characteristically interactive with a high degree of audience participation.James Island
Comedian Coach
James Island has performed comedy with legends like Joe Rogan, Russell Peters and “Big Jay” Oakerson in places from Toronto to Seoul to Mexico City. He also hosts an award-winning joke writing workshop in Toronto called “Joke Marmalade.”Harpreet Sehmbi
Comedian Coach
Harpreet Sehmbi is a Toronto based stand-up comedian, improviser, writer and actor. She is an alumni of Second City’s Toronto’s Longform Conservatory and Sketch Conservatory programs, and regularly performs stand-up all over Canada and the US. She’s headlined the Lady Laughs Comedy Festival in Wisconsin and the Chicago Women’s Funny Festival, and was featured in the North Carolina Comedy Festival and the 6th Borough Comedy Festival in New Jersey. She coproduces and hosts The Darjeelings of Comedy, showcasing South Asian identifying females, and The Anti-Token Comedy Show featuring comedians of colour in Toronto. Harpreet is the creator and star of a web series called INDIE-pendent.Kevin Shawanda
Comedian Coach
Kevin Shawanda is an up and coming Indigenous comic who grew up on the small reservation of Birch Island, Ontario. You can catch his brand of indigenous social comedy on stages all over the North and Online. He says he didn’t have much representation growing up on the reservation and had to learn everything from scratch. It’s been a dream of his to inspire kids and pass on his knowledge to kids to follow their dreams.Thanks to Madhu Thyagaraja, Chili Davidson, Sebastian Chow and Joey Crewe for their expert social media posts!
Thanks to Nic Rodrigo for his graphic arts skills!
We will be forever grateful to Kyle Woolven for his magic and skill as one of our original Comedian Coaches. We were thrilled to have the Fabulous Kenny Robinson on our team and learned so much from his many years in the comedy world. We wish Kyle and Kenny joy in their future adventures.
Thanks to Kita Szpak for her research expertise in our early years.
Thanks to Gayle Rotenberg for the many roles she has played in our growth. She has been the best cheerleader ever.
Appreciation to Anita Townsend and Marlena Kaesler for their energy and kindness with our charity.