Canada’s brightest youth set to arrive at SHAD McMaster for month of intense enrichment and entrepreneurship

SHAD

Students attending SHAD McMaster in 2016.


Samuel Dayo is excited about joining SHAD McMaster and other top students and critical thinkers from around the country hoping to become Canada’s next generation of innovators.

Dayo is a Grade 11 student from DeWinton, Alberta, who is a compassionate problem solver. After his mother had a stroke, he realized that not every family has the financial means to hire a caregiver. He went about trying to find a solution so that no family would find themselves without the help they need.

Dayo built a robot that could perform many of the tasks of a caregiver, such as retrieving medications, and for only a fraction of the price. He researched debilitating illnesses, possible solutions, and taught himself how to design and construct the fully functional medical robot.

Dayo is passionate about healthcare and wants to see it become accessible to everyone.

“My dream is that in the near future we will be able to truly globalize healthcare so that everyone who needs it can have it,” Dayo said.

Dayo is one of 56 students from across Canada heading to McMaster University for the award-winning program SHAD, which takes place at 16 host universities from coast to coast.

At SHAD, founded in 1980 to help youth reach their potential, students in grades 10 to 12 are immersed in a one month enrichment program focused on STEAM: science, technology, engineering, arts and math. The students interact with renowned university faculty and visionary corporate leaders. In a unique element of the program, the students are challenged to come up with an original solution to a societal problem they learn about in the first week. It teaches them about entrepreneurship and innovation and leaves the students seeing how they can make an immediate impact.

“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,” said SHAD President and CEO Tim Jackson.

Dayo has attended six different schools across five different countries in three different continents. He said that he has struggled with adjusting to so many new places, but that it has taught him to value friendships even more. He is excited to build relationships with other exceptional students from all across Canada at SHAD.

“SHAD will provide me with a great community for me to develop the relationships and skills that will prove to be helpful with my future goals,” he said.

This sentiment was echoed by grade 12 student Areeba Bilal of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, who will join Dayo at McMaster University this July. She hopes to return home with more skills to assist the community that helped shape her.

“It is a great honor, both to be included in this program and to learn alongside some great minds. It’s quite inspiring, actually. A group of people who are driven by similar intentions are very motivational for me,” said Bilal. “It inspires me to push my limits even more to achieve great things.”

Bilal previously established her own business through the Youth Co-operative Entrepreneurship Program where she sold merchandise aimed at raising awareness about the gentrification of a neighborhood in Saskatoon. It initiated a conversation about the issue of gentrification across the city.

She was also selected to participate in the Canadian Medical Association’s inaugural Think Camp on Indigenous Health. The small group selected to take part devised policies and later recommended them directly to the CMA President and Board of Directors.

Bilal accomplished all of this despite having to overcome adversity. Born in Pakistan, Bilal’s parents decided to immigrate to Canada to provide more opportunities for Bilal and her brother. While growing up in Canada, Bilal said she has been bullied for looking different and has been told to leave the country while walking down the street.

“As an immigrant, a visible minority, and a woman, I feel the effects of power being giving to the wrong people in my everyday life,” Bilal said.

“There are a lot of thinkers and speakers on said issues, but not nearly enough doers. That’s what I hope to be: a doer, a change maker. I hope my journey at SHAD is one of self-improvement,” she continued. “I am sure of myself, and I am sure that I want to do good for this world, but I am also sure I need so much more improvement in myself to be able to improve things for other human beings.”

SHAD 2018 commences July 1 and wraps up on July 27, after which both Dayo and Bilal will join other change makers and top innovators in an impressive network of nearly 17,000 SHAD Fellows, including an NHL hockey executive, a serial entrepreneur on CBC’s Dragons’ Den, a NASA researcher, and a best-selling author.

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 900 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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