A Life-Changing Experience at SHAD

When I decided to apply to the SHAD summer program, I didn’t know much about it. As the founders of SHAD would say, it has been one of Canada’s best kept secrets ever since it was created. Before attending the program at the University of Calgary, I was extremely excited, very nervous, and also pretty confused. I had been told that it would be a life-changing experience and that nothing would ever really compare to it. This was and still is 100% true; the experiences I was immersed in, the 63 people I had the opportunity to meet and work with, the staff and management, the facilities we had at our disposal, and the fascinating things I learned all tied together to make it an incredible month.

For the duration of the month I lived in Kananaskis residence on the University of Calgary campus. On a daily basis I not only learned about a wide range of topics in lectures (including global warming, biomimicry, 3D printing and electrical engineering), but also experienced them in the real world. Incorporated in the program were educational trips to nearby sites, like water treatment plants, energy and oil plants, human performance labs, medical research centres and even beautiful places like Banff National Park and Lake Louise.

The experience culminated in the SHAD Cup, an annual competition in which participants work in teams to solve a global issue and focus their learning for the month. This year’s topic was food insecurity - food waste, food production, food cost, food availability and malnutrition. Given this topic, we had to create a business and/or product that would solve or aid in a specified area of food security. Then, we had to create an extensive 25-page business plan outlining every possible aspect of our plan and team. My favourite part was executing the product by creating a working prototype.

At the end of the month, all teams presented their businesses to a series of judges with credentials in many related fields: engineering, business, science, and environmental studies. These judges selected one team from each of the SHAD universities in Canada. The winners from each campus received a cash prize and additional time to perfect their business and prototype. Many successful entrepreneurs also come to listen to SHAD Cup competitors and find out more about their project ideas. In some cases, SHAD participants take their business or prototype to the market.

While this seemed daunting, it was an invaluable experience that taught me so much. My time spent at SHAD was one of the most valuable and memorable months of my life. It taught me more than how to neutralize a chemical reaction, or why it’s important to know how to calculate the parabolic shape of a baseball pitch. SHAD taught me that when great minds work together, even the impossible can become possible. SHAD allows you to think beyond your wildest imagination and bring your dreams a little bit closer to reality. It gives you the skills you need, a network of thousands who share your passions, and an increased thirst for knowledge.