Shad Canada promises “the best summer FOR their lives” to grades 10-11 students from all across Canada with an inclination towards STEAM-E, complete with a Design and Entrepreneurship Project, Experiential Learning Opportunities, and Team Building.
I had the pleasure of attending the 2024 ShadAnywhere program this July in partnership with Athabasca University, a fully online post-secondary institution based in Alberta. My experience exceeded the expectations I had, giving me exposure to a wide range of learning material in a multitude of learning styles. I learned from my peers, my campus lead and facilitators, videos, interactive AI chatbots, hands-on activities, and from thorough reflection on my growth. I heard from talented professors, entrepreneurs, speakers, and Shad alumni almost every day, giving me the opportunity to gain insight into real career fields and work, and expand my network.
The highlight of my experience was our Design and Entrepreneurship Project, where teams of around seven students from across the nation were put together to solve a WICKED problem, one that is virtually impossible to solve in its entirety since it is so complex and interconnected and yields stakeholders with conflicting viewpoints. This year’s challenge was “How Might We Help Youth in Canada Integrate Affordable and Reliable Green Energy Sources in their Everyday Lives.” Our team, Team Tungsten, chose to address how we might be able to better integrate Electric Vehicles in the lives of youth. I was my team’s lead and after much consideration, teamwork, and prototyping, we came up with Taxever: an Autonomous EV Taxi Company that offers low-cost rides to increase accessibility and appeals to a target demographic of youth in urban areas, particularly university commuters. Our final product was complete with a pitch and accompanying slideshow to a panel of judges; a 1-2 page precis outlining the problem, solution, and impact; and a functioning prototype of the front-end of our app that would allow the public to book such rides. This part of the program was instrumental for me because it allowed me to see a project from start to end, thinking through all of the moving aspects when it comes to addressing a problem and coming up with an innovative solution that appeals to stakeholders and can be implemented effectively.
From exploring the microscopic world with a foldable paper microscope; to understanding the interconnectedness of hardware and software with coding Arduinos and building our own line-following cars; to unleashing our inner engineers with a challenge to build the largest structure possible with paperclips, popsicle sticks, and playdough; Shad had everything. But what I am taking away from this experience is not really the learning, as a lot of the material was an extension of things I had background knowledge about. Instead, through its community-based focus, Shad has gifted me with the confidence, communication, leadership skills and expansive network I need to take my talents and passions and aim for the stars.
