Category: Community Projects

Studentcareerhub.com is a website for high school students allowing them to share information regarding careers and post-secondary pathways. 

Overall, the impact I hope this project has is for students to be able to make more informed decisions on their future careers, and find a way to be the most productive with their time from an early age. Entering a post-secondary program without a clear goal insight can lead to financial loss and also considerable stress down the line, especially considering the increasing cost of living (e.g. rising rent prices in the GTA) and how much more difficult it is to get a job out of school.​

At the moment, I am still working on growing the project. I hope the website is eventually able to be a spot where students can discuss future career paths with each other while sharing resources to help them along the way.​

I have two parts in my Passion to Purpose project. First, I distributed care packages (according to the essential needs listed by the facility) during my volunteer time at the Calgary Drop-In Centre for the Valentine’s Day dinner service.  

Second, I distributed grooming kits for pets who are owned by homeless people across the streets. I connected with my local animal welfare organizations to help me distribute these kits. I wanted to make the pets feel loved, cared and pampered.

We hosted a conference where students learned key information about STEM fields and how to find support and resources for their education journey. We had 8 rapid style presentations from women in stem in BC programs or women advocacy groups and 4 workshop sessions (science demos, skill building, etc).

The Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Conference aims to build connections and encourage inner-city female students in STEM careers to limit gaps in their transition to higher education. Female students are invited to help support their education and career development in STEM. Students engaged in presentations and activities in each of the following fields: (1) Chemistry and Engineering, (2) Biology and Medicine, (3) Mathematics and Technology. Each discipline has specific information for admission to programs, challenges as a woman in non-traditional careers, community-specific support, and inspiring women who practiced in the field. Furthermore, students and presenters will be involved in a conversation regarding the importance of mentorship and finding a mentor who identifies as the same gender, culture, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. To build on the topic of mentorship, students will be connected with female undergraduate students and professionals in various fields in a low intimidation environment to provide further insight into prospective STEM fields. As the first conference of its kind in Surrey, the Women in STEM conference will develop meaningful connections with female prospective students in STEM and provide motivation and support for pursuing higher education. ​

The activities involved with our project were organized and submitted in a proposal format to our sponsor teacher, Mr. Hayes, at the beginning of September. As a team, we were flexible to change and shifted our proposal as need arose. Activities included, but were not limited to, permissions and application for an official TEDx license, securing the food catering company, gathering resources such as goodie bag items through sponsorships, borrowing tech equipment, securing the multi-purpose room as a venue, pre-planning speaker workshops, inviting community representatives, setting up and taking down the event, and executing the TEDxGleneagleSecondary event to the highest quality.

TED is something that has impacted us in the past and TEDxGleneagleSecondary is the opportunity for us to facilitate this same impact to our community. We also wanted to organize this event to discover and voice some hidden gems within the Coquitlam area, to not only inspire change in audiences but to empower people who have ideas to share. The committee aimed to create a platform to exchange these stories, encourage open, honest, and vulnerable dialogue on the world we live in, and empower individuals about their potential in life through newfound connections.

Through my Passion to Purpose Community Grant, I was able to purchase feminine hygiene products through Amazon.ca and have them distributed at school. I started by having bags on hooks in bathroom stalls. These were not as successful as we hoped as people took them. We then recycled coffee cans and made them into hall passes, put posters in the bathrooms to let students know where to find period supplies, and made coffee can supply kits for the bathrooms, including the unisex bathroom. Hooks were installed into the bathrooms to be able to have girls have their purses on the door not the floor. Our bathrooms are open so there is minimal privacy. Now, girls have better access to feminine hygiene and less girls are leaving the school due to having issues.

I organized an Early International Women’s Day Brunch which was held on March 1, 2020. My helpers and I arrived at the hall at 9 am to begin the set up. The event began at 10 a.m. and that is when people started to arrive at the Cosmo Senior Centre in Moose Jaw. All 50 of the free tickets were spoken for but only 42 actually ended up attending. Once the majority of people were seated, I made my opening statements and introduction at 10:30. We then enjoyed the brunch catered by Carol’s Catering. After the meal, the guest speaker Christine Boyczuk gave a wonderful speech about the importance of supporting other women and being there for one another. Her inspirational words were a great addition to the event! After her speech, there were dainties from the Maple Leaf Bakery that were served. After the dainties, a draw was made for the 15 door prizes that were generously donated by local businesses in Moose Jaw. For the people that did not receive door prizes, they were welcome to take the flowers home that were on the tables. After the door prizes, I made a short closing speech and thanked everyone for attending the Early International Women’s Day Brunch. After the event, I received many positive comments about the success of the brunch. Many people told me how important they thought it was and what a great idea this type of event was for Moose Jaw. I also spoke with a reporter and she wrote a story in our local paper about the event. The event helped to bring women from the community of Moose Jaw together to celebrate and support one another. There was a diverse range of women who attended the event. Women of all ages, backgrounds, and career paths attended the event and showed their support. I was very grateful that so many women felt the desire to be a part of this event.

My project was a sleepover event for low-income youth in Winnipeg. We did activities focusing on the pillars of Duke of Ed: Skill, Service, Physical and Adventure. For service, we wrote cards to the Canadian Armed Forces. For skill, we baked muffins and made cards. For physical we made muffins and for adventure we did a scavenger hunt. The project was developed in the hopes that the kids would have the opportunity to learn new skills and have a fun weekend they wouldn’t have necessarily had the opportunity to have.

The Climate Change Challenge Mini Series, is a series of workshops where participants can enrol in a challenge, with the hopes of creating and taking action on ideas that can help keep our planet, and Canada a healthy place to live in. During this workshop, our in house facilitators lead the participants through three steps: (1) identify a climate change problem, (2) find a solution, (3) create a planning and pitching the idea to get their idea going.  

We had a blast empowering the next generation through our Climate Change Challenge! Participants were able to: identify and learn about the current climate crises, create action plans around it, and pitch, present to community leaders! We were able to empower 300 participants, and tie in our SDG goals as well. The final result was a pitching competition that happened during our Empowerment Gala in December

Watch the highlights here!

Winters are cold. Staying warm is often a huge problem for Canada’s homeless population. Providing organizations with blankets that they can then provide to their clients can make a huge impact! Not only is it nice for these clients to have an item that they can all their own, but the blankets can help prevent unnecessary medical conditions such as frostbite.  Blankets By Bailey has donated to and will to continue to donate to multiple different organizations, we are able to reach multiple populations. ​

Through my project I was able to do six workshops. Five of them were in school presentations and one was with a community group. All of the workshops focused on giving back to the community. We were able to make a total of 33 blankets that have been donated to three different local shelters.

I established a 3D Maker Club at the Confederation Centre Public Library in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, with the objective of enabling individuals to “make what you dream”. I ran the Club during the summer of 2019, and worked with 18 full-time registered members of the Club on how to do Computer-Aided Designing (CAD), how to assemble and operate a 3d printer, as well as how to post-process 3d printed objects and maintain equipment. The Club ran on weekends for 2 hours per week. Throughout weekly meetings during the summer months, I ran the club according to a self-designed curriculum. For the first week, I conducted an introduction to the 3D Maker Club and talked about how the technology is evolving and being applied to world-leading industries. At the same time, I demonstrated 3d-printed tugboat prototypes to club members to represent the advancement of the technology and how it is being domesticated rapidly. Additionally, I was able to install critical CAD Softwares on team members’ computers. For the second and third week, I dedicated time to teach the Club regarding 2D and 3D designing functions and how to turn their imagination to digital objects. Throughout those two weeks, club members expanded upon their creativity and were able to complete various objectives using CAD to create digital models. In the fourth week, club members were given the task to assemble their own 3d printers in groups, and the club was able to completely assemble 3 3d printers throughout the duration of 2 hours. With the time left, teams were prompted to use the 3d printers to print their designs from weeks before. In the last week, club members learned about the maintenance of 3d printers, how to post-process 3d prints (ie. sanding), and celebrated their achievements through a pizza party and the presentation of participation awards. Throughout the 3D Maker Club journey, individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences were given the opportunity to learn what 3d printing is, how to CAD, assemble and use a 3d printer, as well as to maintain equipment, and were given a well-rounded introduction to the 3d printing industry.

Additionally, the Club was also able to assist in the process of a CBC interview regarding their endeavours, which at the same time promoted Duke of E and CSC through two CBC articles online.