One of the greatest experiences I’ve had in my life was my time at Shad Valley, a summer science and entrepreneurship camp for high school students at sponsored by Research in Motion.

Throughout the duration of the camp,the students are exposed to lectures from real professors and industry professionals, potential-pushing group challenges, and exposure to university residence life.

The main focus of the camp is the entrepreneurship aspect of it. After the first few days of orientation, the students are split up into groups and presented a theme. Each group needs to come up with an product that corresponds to the theme. By the end of the camp, each time will have completed a business plan and created a prototype, which they present in front of a team of industry judges. The winning product from each university goes on to play in the Shad Cup. I ended up being on the winning team from Dalhousie University last year. Shad provided me with the exposure to business plan writing and basic business skills that helped give me a head start in the business world. I would definitely recommend this program to anyone!