What 1 month at SHAD Canada taught me — and why you should go!
During the month of July 2019, I had the most eye-opening month of my life. I met the most incredible people. I learnt invaluable life lessons. I built connections and acquired a network to last a lifetime.
How did I do this?
SHAD Canada.
For those of you who don’t know or are considering attending this program, SHAD is a month long, STEAM-based (STEM + Arts) program that brings together driven teenagers from across Canada at over 19 universities. However, while SHAD often advertises itself as an opportunity to acquire hard-skills and gain hands-on experience, I believe this program offered something far more valuable, at least for me.
To put it succinctly, (and with help from one of my SHAD friends)
“A lot of us come into SHAD thinking we’ll learn all about engineering and technology, and we did. But really, I ended up learning more about people than anything else — including myself.”
In the span of one month, these were the key lessons I took away from the experience.
- STEM is not the only way to be smart (ironically at a STEM program)
- Not everyone is dealt the same cards (Maybe you’re lucky, maybe you’re not)
- Your network is everything.
- Seek fulfillment, not prestige (really important one!)
STEM is not the only way to be smart.
If you’ve read some of my articles already, then this title might be familiar. (If you want to read the fully fleshed out article, click here.) The gist of it is, in the last few decades (and for many more to come) technology has made enormous leaps and bounds.
Everyone knows that STEM is both profitable and employable, and understandably so. It’s a fast growing industry that has the potential to revolutionize the future for the better. However, with the media constantly popularizing and sensationalizing STEM geniuses, much of society has become conditioned into thinking that that’s the only definition of success.
That’s not true.
Nevertheless, I found myself falling into that trap. Despite my various passions in both STEM and humanities, I hesitated to delve into the latter because the world was telling me, “that’s not what smart people look like”. The world was telling me that entrepreneurs, computer programmers and engineers were the world’s cream of the crop. I wanted to be the cream of the crop. And if we’re being honest, who wouldn’t?
Either way, I had to really see it in order to believe it. And at SHAD, I was given the opportunity to do so.
We had lecturers from a variety of fields, from graphic designers to stem cell researchers to astrophysicists. But three lecturers really stood out to me: Jane Lee, co-founder of Launch Pop, Jay Wall, co-founder of Rally Rally (a design company for social good), and Dr. David Lewis, CCO of a behavioural economics company.
All three of these speakers showed me that being a smart, successful, impactful individual is not unique to STEM. You can be all of those things and more in any field of your choosing. In fact, the intersections of these fields were the most fascinating yet for me personally.
The punchline.
But what really sealed the deal for me was what my program director said when I asked her, “doctors literally save lives with their bare hands, and the designer in me wants to make things ‘look pretty’. How could the two things possibly compare?”
What did she say?
“If everyone became a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, the world would cease to function.”
The truth of that statement couldn’t be clearer, even to my frantic teenage mind. There are millions of ways we can contribute to society, and the world only works because they all exist.
In other words: Do what you want to do. Make the impact you want to have in society. Chances are the world needs it.
Not everyone is dealt the same cards.
SHAD brings together like-minded, yet incredibly diverse groups of individuals. At SHAD, we all shared a mindset of growth and ambition, and many of us even had the same interests. But where we began to diverge was in the opportunities that we had available to us.
For those in my moderately-sized city of Ottawa, clubs and organizations such as DECA, HOSA, Debate and Key Club were staples of high-achievement schools. However, upon getting to know some of my SHAD fellows from smaller communities or entirely different provinces, I realized these opportunities weren’t so ubiquitous.
Some of my SHAD friends had never heard of any of these convoluted acronyms and rigorous clubs. After realizing what was out there, they were now understandably a bit frustrated and jealous that these opportunities weren’t available to them. And frankly, so was I.
I also realized that I was completely oblivious to a ton of opportunities. Before I went to SHAD, I had barely heard anyone in my school mention the word hackathon, but at SHAD it was all the rage. None of them really existed in Ottawa, but they were practically a weekly occurrence in places like Toronto. In big cities, networking and leadership programs for youth are as prevalent as McDonalds’ signs.
Heading into my senior year, if I’d known all of these existed I would have participated in them. Maybe my skill set would be more advanced than it is today, and maybe I’d have a more diverse network. But I didn’t know then, and unfortunately it was a card I was dealt a little later in my life. Though undeniably, maybe I could’ve done a better job at Googling for them.
Okay so what? What did you learn?
A few tidbits:
- Do your research. Scour Reddit, Quora, uThink, any forums of your niche of interest for ways to advance your skills and interests. Look for opportunities beyond your city.
- Bigger cities = big opportunities but Big cities = big competition. Big cities sound great, but recognize that you could very well go from being a big fish in a little pond, to a small fish in a large pond. There’s trade-offs.
- Be kind. (This deserves a title of its own.)
Be kind.
It’s easy for us to look at other people and judge them at first glance: “How are they not succeeding?” “Why aren’t they at x school with y awards?”.
Because life isn’t always fair.
Sometimes people don’t all start running from the same start-line. It doesn’t mean they can’t “win the race”, and it absolutely doesn’t mean they should give up trying, but what it does mean is that it can be significantly harder in ways we never even realized.
I’m not saying that there’s no lazy people out there, but you never know what hand someone’s been dealt with in life.
People come from drastically different backgrounds, different financial privileges, different parents, different networks. Treat them kindly. Give them the benefit of the doubt. But most importantly, be someone that helps to level the playing field. I myself recently joined the Youth Helping Youth Ontario team to help make these opportunities known to each and every student.
Seek out opportunities.
Share those opportunities.
That’s how we foster a generation of change-makers that can reach their full potential.
Your Network is Everything.
Knowledge & Opportunity
As the saying often goes,
“it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know”
While I disagree with the statement that what you know doesn’t matter… The people around you matter a lot. Like, A LOT.
To give you an example, before I transferred into the IB programme, there were so many opportunities that I was completely unaware of. From leadership camps to university courses for high school students, these were just some of the opportunities that I’d never heard about until I found a like-minded network who did. The IB programme connected me with a motivated bunch of individuals who sought out ways to create and innovate, to truly learn and grow.
SHAD is exactly this, except bigger.
SHAD provides you a network of over 18 000 accomplished individuals living in a variety of countries, with a variety of skills and experiences. From adult CEOs to 16 year old researchers, SHAD isn’t just a resume flex. SHAD gives you a broad network from which to ask questions, gain genuine insights or build a powerhouse team.
Here are a few other network perks SHAD gives you:
- There are lots of bursaries, scholarships etc. meant just for SHAD Alumni.
- SHADs post job opportunities for one another in the SHAD LinkedIn group.
- SHAD lets you connect with speakers at your campus and visit top companies and facilities such as Shopify, Google, Mt. Sinai Hospital
Community & Mindset
For those of you who feel alone in your mindset:
Feeling that you are out of place or strange can be one of the most discouraging experiences you ever have. It makes you feel awkward, it leaves your greatest thoughts and ideas trapped at the back of your throat.
This is why having a group of people who understand you is important. Knowing you are not alone is important. Having people you can have serious and meaning conversations with is important.
SHAD is one of the best places to get this.
Many individuals at SHAD talk about how at their schools or in their communities they lack a network that understands them. Some of them were even told they were crazy for having such wild ambitions or working so hard. For them, and many others, SHAD was a refreshing and eye-opening experience to realize they aren’t alone in their endeavors, their passions or their expectations.
For those of you who are looking to change your mindset:
The best way to change your mindset is to surround yourself with people who share this very mindset you’re looking for. If you’re around other people who are ambitious and motivated, you’ll feel pumped, you’ll ALSO become ambitious and motivated.
If you surround yourself with the right people, your network can be a symbiotic relationship where everyone helps to push each other to their full potential.
SHAD does exactly this.
SHAD gives you a community. SHAD surrounds you with individuals who will push you outside your comfort zone, who will teach you to grow and improve yourself whether you like it or not.
Seek Fulfillment, Not Prestige
Be passionate about what you do.
For the longest time, I had used my academic success as an indicator of my self-worth and “success” as a person. In other words, I had been obsessed with prestige.
Whether it be my marks, the awards I’d won, the certificates hanging on my wall or the number of leadership programs or clubs that I’d been a part of, these are just some of the things that I used to use as a measure of my worth. It was for this reason that I felt insecure, intimidated and utterly incompetent when I first walked into SHAD.
I thought, how did I manage to make it into this program? How could I call myself a “change-maker” when I was practically in the presence of teenage CEOs and Bill Gateses?
While myself and many others at my campus grappled with these insecurities at the start of SHAD, the opportunities we were given to find more meaningful ways to define our self-worth throughout this program was truly revolutionary to my mindset.
Every year, SHAD introduces a Design Engineering (DE) challenge. They provide a problem theme e.g. “sustainable energy or waste management” around which we (in teams of 6 or more) work together to pitch a viable business that delivers an innovative, never-before-seen solution in less than a month.
This year, SHAD had decided to take away the competition typically associated with the challenge. At first I found this upsetting, thinking it would be another potential accomplishment to obsess over. But looking back, I couldn’t be more grateful that they had made this decision.
With the DE competition removed, I’d been able to fully invest myself into a project with other motivated people and experience something truly magical, driven not by marks or winning, but by the pure desire of wanting to create something amazing.
I debated passionately with my teammates. We stayed up late brainstorming and making our presentation perfect not because there was some status or prize to gain, but because we could. Because we wanted to. Because it was… fulfilling.
I think that’s the feeling, the realization that I had been missing throughout the last few years of my life that I’d really needed. Life is about striving for fulfillment, it’s about seeking out fulfilling experiences.
Something one of my Program Directors Aiko Thurlow told me was that life is about doing something you find meaningful. And to do otherwise would be the quickest path to a midlife crisis. To paraphrase her,
“People have mid-life crises when they realize they have spent the last 20 years of their life working towards something they realize they themselves never wanted, living a life that isn’t theirs. And they’re left not knowing who they are or what they’re really looking for.”
The projects you take on throughout your life, whether it be starting a business, designing an app or writing a book, should be done because you WANT to.
Not because it looks beautiful on some fancy resume.
Not because other people think it’s cool.
Because you think it’s cool.
Form meaningful relationships.
The sense of community and family felt at SHAD was another pivotal experience that shifted my mindset towards fulfillment and away from prestige. Frankly speaking, it’s genuinely what made SHAD such a beautiful experience and what I will vividly remember 50 years later about this program.
While many leave SHAD having made 60+ best friends, I’ll be honest and say I probably made around 10 really good friends.
And while that might sound underwhelming, believe me when I say SHAD truly is a family.
It’s one with a few close knit relationships like the ones you hopefully share with your parents or siblings. But it’s also one where you have distant cousins and relatives that you’ve maybe met a few times in your life, but you still feel a sort of intangible bond and sense of togetherness towards.
It’s one that you become so close to in such a short amount of time that you find your heart breaking a little when you realize the end of the month is nearing.
“So should I do SHAD?”
Depends.
SHAD taught me a lot. It taught me hard skills, soft-skills, from a variety of different fields. I became a better presenter, I built a conductive play-dough heart and I learnt how to use design thinking.
But most importantly, SHAD gave me direction on the kinds of values and ways in which I want to live my life. It gave me a better sense of what kind of person I want to be.
If you feel like you have it all figured out, the answer is simple.
Don’t go.
But if I’m being honest, if you think you have it all figured out, chances are you probably don’t. There’s so much to gain from any experience you have if you’re willing to look for it.
You will get out of every experience exactly what you put into it.
The same applies for SHAD.
I think a lot of us “know” of a lot of things. We know life shouldn’t just be about our marks, we know that life isn’t a competition. We know that we should stop to smell the roses and that the people around us are what matter the most.
But we don’t believe it.
It’s true when our parents and mentors tell us, “sometimes you gotta see it to believe it.” And at SHAD, you really get to see it. You get to experience all of these things you thought you knew but realized you never really did until now.
If none of the things that I talked about resonated with you, don’t participate. But if you’re looking to grow, to have fun, to put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone…
Join SHAD. You won’t regret it.
