The Student Pathways Challenge
Choosing a path to take after high school is a pivotal moment for young Ontarians. With many options available, and limited access to practical or relatable information, high school students have said that they struggle to find relevant information that helps them choose and navigate post-secondary education and career options.
Current tools and resources are frequently out-of-date and hard to find, leaving many students feeling unprepared for the decisions that will have a significant impact on their lives.
We want to change that.
I’m excited to be part of ongoing efforts to innovate in the sphere of student engagement and interaction. Ontario has made great strides at connecting governments with civic innovators in the community, and as part of the work we’re doing, we want to design simple and straightforward digital products and services for high school students, too.
That’s why I’m especially excited for the Student Pathways Challenge: it’s a great opportunity to engage community members and build new digital tools to help high school students.
About the design competition
To help this design challenge succeed, we are working with the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship, and:
- Keeping the challenge question broad
- Providing a wealth of open data, resources and a comprehensive participant support model
- Hosting a private server to facilitate development
- Ensuring participants retain their Intellectual Property rights
- Offering a Slack workspace to promote project collaboration
With these support structures in place, we anticipate an impressive spectrum of interesting and exciting digital solutions.
The prize
The top 10 teams will travel to Toronto and have the chance to pitch their ideas and present their challenge submissions to a panel of innovative and creative thinkers.
To entice prospective participants further, the teams with the most promising submissions will be awarded sizeable prizes of $30,000 for first place, $13,000 for second place and $7,000 for third place.
Thinking ahead
The results of the Student Pathways Challenge will not only support high school students, but will promote networking and entrepreneurship activities among participants, while acting as a crucial catalyst for the development of future products.
More importantly, we are laying the groundwork for the next generation of civic engagement, open data and open government.
Inside government and out, we can’t wait to see the results of this initiative.
Interested in participating or helping us get the word out? Check out the official website or the Twitter feed and help shape the future of Ontario student pathways.
