Tech Under Twenty University Guidance Series

Silicon Halton’s Tech Under Twenty (TU20) University Guidance Series is starting in December, and is going to be about CS, not business. The dates for the sessions are: December 10th with University of Toronto, and December 23rd with University of Waterloo.

We think that this series will be very valuable for business and STEM classes and we would appreciate if you could relay the information to your students and post the information on your google classrooms, announcements and websites. You can find more information on our website at https://techundertwenty.com/university-guidance/ and sign up there. We encourage you to listen to one of the episodes we posted on the website to get a sense of what it is like!

App Design Competition - Active Mental Health Initiative

The Hamilton Chapter of "Active Mental Health Initiative" (AMHI) is organizing a symposium called "Apps, Activity and Wellbeing Interdisciplinary Symposium” in collaboration with w. Booth school of Engineering, McMaster University at CIBC Hall, McMaster on November 24, 2018  from 11am to 4pm.  The vision of the Symposium is to spread awareness of the role of physical activity in promoting mental health.

In addition, we are holding a competition for high school and university students, in which they have to come up with an innovative idea of a smartphone application on physical activity, which would be sustainable in promoting behaviour change based on the people’s perception of positive mental health with physical activity. For instance, take a happy face selfie after physical activity and the happy face shows up as a reinforcer before the reminder for physical activity next day. It will encourage the high school students to use their creativity to come up with different ideas for apps involving physical activity, human touch and behavioral change. This competition is an initiative to promote physical activity and mental health via technology.

The competition will be online and the registration forms are out. Deadline has been extended to Nov 10, 2018. All high school students are eligible to apply. They can apply in a team of 2-5 using the google form link below:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8dF2pZUQrd0bAi-Asgisg9XR3J7HvaXf2aexkxx-IWwNNxw/viewform
They can also register at www.activementalhealthinitiative.com
Once they register and pay the registration fees of $10/team, they will be emailed the app competition package with all the details of the competition. Judges will be renowned Faculty from McMaster. All participants will present their idea at the symposium and awards will be presented there. The awards include $100(First award),$50(second place) and $25(Third place). In addition, there will be bonus prizes and all participants will receive a certificate of participation from w. Booth school of engineering. If you have any questions, email me at ishaan228@gmail.com

More info is available here.

The University of Toronto High School Design Competition (UTHSDC)

The University of Toronto High School Design Competition (UTHSDC) is a one-day design competition for high school students; the goal of this competition is to engage and inspire students interested in learning more about engineering, while gaining some practical design experience.

Date: Sunday, November 27th, 2016
Time: Please check in at 8:30 a.m.; the event concludes at 5:30 p.m.  Lunch will be provided.
Location: Bahen Center for Information Technology
Who: Grades 9–12
Cost of registration: $15.00 per person (includes building material costs)

Participants will compete in teams of 3-5 to conceptualize, design, build, and communicate a solution to a real world engineering design challenge in a ‘hackathon’ format.

The Judging Teams will consist of professors, recent engineering graduates, and professionals currently working in industry.

In addition to the design competition, you will have the opportunity to:

• Attend a keynote design presentation from esteemed University of Toronto Engineering Faculty
• Attend an “engineering opportunities” fair at lunch with student groups from U of T Engineering & industry
• Meet an array of current engineering student “mentors” from all disciplines. They are on call to answer any and all questions you may have related to studying engineering at U of T!

For more information and to register, click here.

SHAD Valley 2019

The application for SHAD 2019 is officially open and is due by November 19. A PDF version of the brochure is also available. 

Here is a quick summary of what students should expect with SHAD:

• High potential students spend July living at a university while engaging in hands-on learning in STEAM & Entrepreneurship

• SHAD looks for grade 10, 11 or 12 students who are: involved in their communities, creative & keen learners

• A range of bursaries are available, ensuring the program is accessible to students with demonstrated financial need. Last year, we awarded over one million dollars in bursaries and scholarships. The cost of the program should not be the reason a student does not apply!

Join the SHAD Network of over 17,000 alumni, and enjoy the lifelong benefits of the SHAD Fellow designation, which is recognized and valued by university admissions and scholarship providers. 

PS – What kind of student is SHAD look for? Watch this video on the value we place on diversity & inclusion in our application review process.

University of Toronto: Student Entrepreneurship and Mentorship Opportunity

The Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) is a program for early-stage massively scalable, science-based start-ups. Since its launch in 2012, over 1,000 founders representing more than 500 companies have participated in the program. The successful commercialization of cutting-edge science achieved through the program has led to the creation of over $3 billion in equity value.

In tangent, CDL runs a High Schools Girl Program which invites female high-school students who are ambitious and curious about entrepreneurship, technology, or science-based innovation. Students will have the opportunity to meet and observe a series of small group meetings with early-stage start-ups followed by an afternoon of a large group discussion that focuses on identifying technical/business milestones to achieve by the next session. In addition, each student will be assigned to a CDL Fellow or Associate (individuals who mentor CDL companies - this list includes Col. Chris Hadfield, the founders of WIND Mobile, KIK, and Kobo) and will become their shadow for the day.

There are five session dates each with forty seats reserved for female students:
October 24-25, 2018
December 12-13, 2018
February 20-21, 2018
May 1-2, 2018
June 12-13, 2018

If students are unavailable to participate for the first session there will be four other opportunities during the year in which they can select in the application to be considered for.

The application and logistical details can be found in the following link: https://form.jotform.com/82496250466261

The deadline to apply is October 9, 2018 11:59PM EST. Since the launch of this program last year, we have had over 100 students attend from across York Region, Peel Region, Toronto, and the GTA.

Here are three articles written by our past students about their experience in the program:

1, 2, and 3.

Xplore STEM Conference

The Xplore STEM Conference invites students to explore and develop a love for the Science, Engineering, Technology and Math (STEM) fields. Featuring a multitude of speakers, workshops, booths and activitie, students will be exposed to the limitless opportunities the STEM fields have to offce. The conference will take place on November 13th, 2018 at the Toronto Pearson Convention Center.

Click here for more information.