The Canada World Youth Leadership Summit is an event where youth across Canada ages 18-25 can come together to build a community of ambitious learners and look towards the future.
At this year’s conference in Saskatoon, STEM Minds led tech and entrepreneurship workshops to provide insight on STEM careers and how youth can transition their everyday tech activities from a hobby to a job. Our team spoke on job opportunities in eSports and game development that require skills beyond just coding in different areas such as arts and music.
STEM Minds’ Chief Executive Officer, Anu Bidani, was a keynote speaker at the summit and talked about advancing education through technology-related skill building. She introduced her organizations, STEM Minds and Inno-Hive, as helpful resources for learning. STEM Minds’ Director of Online Programming and Technology, Rob Elmer, and Senior Manager of Program Development, Riddhesh Soneji, led tech workshops in which they worked in smaller groups of youth. Rob and Riddhesh were able to reach 80+ participants and provide meaningful guidance on re-skilling and integrating into the tech space.
The outcome of the experience was very positive, there was a high level of engagement within the youth with many noting an increased interest and willingness to explore opportunities in STEM.
“What I was really impressed with overall was the youth’s willingness to learn and the acceptance they had for each other. Everyone felt comfortable to have open discussions and to foster and build relationships with one another.” – Rob Elmer
Additionally, our team had the opportunity to act as participants ourselves and learn about the heritage of our land and the Indigenous peoples of Canada. We listened to many speakers and youth at the summit who discussed the importance of indigenous equity in our society. Moreover, we were fortunate enough to take part in a CWI excursion to Wanuskewin Heritage Park – an archaeological site of the Northern Plains peoples – and learn about their traditions and history. This experience helped enrich our understanding of Indigenous peoples and opened our eyes to how we can better support Indigenous communities.