Waterloo, ON, June 20, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An actor and a top prize winner from the Canada-Wide Science Fair will join about 1,000 students looking to become change makers this summer at the award-winning enrichment and entrepreneurship program SHAD.
This year’s SHAD program will take place at a record 16 host university campuses from coast to coast, with students being represented from all 10 provinces and three territories.
Grade 10 student Eva Greyeyes who has a supporting role in the movie “Indian Horse,” a film about an Indigenous boy sent to a residential school, will attend SHAD at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. “Indian Horse” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and has recently been sent to the big screen at cinemas.
“It was so important for me to be able to represent a part of Canada’s history that really needs to be told and it’s important for me to be able to tell that story and tell it with other [Indigenous] people,” Greyeyes said.
When speaking about the film’s theme of reconciliation, she said “there was no holding back.”
“I think the film coming out was a really big success and a really big step forward.”
Greyeyes first learned about SHAD from a poster and presentation in her school.
“By the end of the talk, I just remember thinking ‘Oh my goodness, I have to do this! This sounds like one of the best opportunities that I could have in Canada.’”
During the month, students attend interactive lectures and workshops from top university faculty and innovators in the community. A strong emphasis is placed on entrepreneurship at the program. Students learn how to start their own business to help solve a real world problem.
She is most excited to join other like-minded, ambitious, and creative students for the STEAM- (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) based program.
“I’ve never really encountered a lot of people who love school and love learning as much as I do,” Greyeyes said. “To be able to be in a group of students that are exactly like me and are there to do their best and learn, that seems like the best part of it.”
Jordan Takkiruq is another participant at SHAD this summer.
A grade 11 student from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Takkiruq is the only participant from within the Arctic Circle.
Like Greyeyes, Takkiruq has a passion for the sciences, having competed in four Canada-Wide Science Fair competitions and winning a silver medal for his project on tooth decay.
While he can’t wait to learn about new facets of science and technology, Takkiruq is most looking forward to meeting students from all over the country and from diverse backgrounds. He believes that connecting different cultures is extremely valuable and will help advance global action against issues like climate change, an issue he witnesses first hand every day in his northern Inuit community.
“You’d have all the different mindsets of all the populations of Canada, and hopefully one day the world, working towards the same cause of solving global crises,” said Takkiruq. Takkiruq will be attending SHAD at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, one of three new campuses for SHAD in 2018 along with McGill University and University of Prince Edward Island.
“We are thrilled that, thanks to our supporters, SHAD will be able to reach a record 1,000 students this summer,” said SHAD President and CEO Tim Jackson.
“These exceptional students from all parts of Canada spend the month of July together with their peers and mentors. We hope they end the month not only dreaming big, but empowered with the tools and passion they need to take risks, roll up their sleeves and get going.”
This year, SHAD will commence on July 1 and end on July 27, after which participants will become part of a vast network of close to 17,000 Fellows including an NHL hockey executive, a serial entrepreneur on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, a NASA researcher and best-selling author.
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ABOUT SHAD:
SHAD produces leaders for Canada through its award-winning, life-changing, pan-Canadian enrichment platform for high school students. Every year, SHAD helps almost 1,000 young Canadians tap into their full potential through an innovative month-long program at one of 16 partner university campuses. There, students apply STEAM (science-tech-engineering-arts-math) disciplines to real-life public policy and entrepreneurial challenges, forging insights and valuable relationships for life. Among its thriving global network of close to 17,000 SHAD Fellows and innovators are 32 Rhodes Scholars, 88 Loran Scholars, and 55 Schulich Leaders. For more information, visit www.shad.ca.
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