The University of Prince Edward Island is joining Shad, an award-winning national enrichment program which brings top high school students to 16 university campuses across the country every July.

Founded in 1980, Shad has become known as a leading incubator for innovation and entrepreneurship among high school students with a passion for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and Entrepreneurship.

Every year, 900 young Canadians experience an innovative month-long program at one of 16 partner university campuses where they apply STEAM disciplines to real-life public policy and entrepreneurial challenges.

“Prince Edward Island is thrilled to host 50 of the brightest young minds in Canada so they can experience what our province has to offer, including our leading researchers in aerospace, and bioscience,” Sonny Gallant, Minister of Workforce and Advanced Learning, said in a press release. 

The central location for Shad at UPEI will be the new School of Sustainable Design Engineering. Activities will include a mini robotics course.

The Government of PEI is investing $28,000 to help students from the Island attend the Shad program in other parts of the country.

“Shad helped me realize that if you don’t push yourself to try new things or go outside of your comfort zone then you will miss out on so many opportunities,” said Madeline Hamill who is in grade 12 at Kinkora Regional High School on PEI. 

Hamill attended Shad at the University of Waterloo this summer and said some of the highlights included introduction to coding and learning about the human body in an anatomy workshop.

Shad is open to students in grades 10 to 12. Organizers are looking for well-rounded curious students from the Island with a passion for learning.  Many attendees, known as Shads, are heavily involved in extra-curricular activities in school or in their community.

Students live in residence at one of the 16 host university campuses.  They attend lectures and workshops offered by leading faculty and community leaders and participate in field trips to see science and innovation in action.  There are recreational activities to round out the learning.

Shad is accepting applications here for the summer of 2018 until Nov. 20