Kenyon Bull (front) and Elias Mykat (back) work inside their award-winning hydroponic garden project at Mamawi Atosketan Native School in Ponoka, near Maskwacis.

By Josh Hall

kenyon bull & elias mykat

Award-winning students in Maskwacis celebrate first harvest from hydroponic garden

Oct 7, 2026 | 5:33 PM

Two teens from Maskwacis celebrated a momentous occasion this week.

This past January, Elias Mykat and Kenyon Bull received the Zayed Sustainability Prize, a global award worth $150,000 USD given by the United Arab Emirates.

Mykat and Bull are students at Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) near Maskwacis, and earned the award for their hydroponic garden project.

This week, they harvested the first crop — four types of salad greens — from that garden.

“I’m definitely considering this for myself, especially because I didn’t realize I could be so good at it,” Bull shared at the event when asked if he wants to pursue this field after high school.

kenyon bull & elias mykat

Award-winning students in Maskwacis celebrate first harvest from hydroponic garden

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“I want other kids to get that same feeling.”

As for Mykat, he says he’s still figuring out what to do.

“I hope other kids pick this up and see what we did with it… [see how they can] help people around them too, and see the outcomes they can get from it.”

Bags of lettuce from the harvest were distributed to kids at the school.

Last month, the boys received a visit from Chief Wilton Littlechild, who is also from Maskwacis. Littlechild’s granddaughter, who is in Grade 12 at MANS, is also registered in the program.

Eight teachers at the K-12 school have incorporated the garden into their classes.

by Josh Hall

Award-winning students in Maskwacis celebrate first harvest from hydroponic garden

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