Imagine if we could make social innovation accessible to all young people
At UpstartED, we believe that, with the right guidance and resources, every young person has the potential to come up with innovative solutions that tackle the complex challenges facing our society. That is why, during the upGen workshops, we deliver the foundations of social innovation right at the source of youth education: inside the classroom.
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Meeting young people directly at the source of education: inside Canadian schools
Because we want to make it as easy as possible for young people to access the upGen workshops, we work with forward-thinking educators to bring our hands-on experiences directly to students inside the classroom. The workshop series consists of three sessions, one per month between October to December.
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Step 1
Register your school
Teachers register their schools and respective classes to participate in the program.
Step 2
Confirm dates
The workshops are confirmed, one per month, between October to December.
Step 3
Receive workshops
Trained facilitators deliver the workshops to students inside the classroom.
upGen Schools
École Saint Luc - Annexe Terrebonne
Académie de Roberval
École Pierre-Dupuy
École Cavalier de LaSalle
Académie Saint-Thérèse
École Maimonide
Pierrefonds Community High School
Beaconsfield High School
Beurling Academy
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St. Thomas High School
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Horizon High School
Lindsay Place HS
Macdonald High School
Westmount High School
John F. Kennedy High School
Vincent Massey
John Grant High School
MIND High School
Cedar Ridge
Lester B Pearson High School
LINKS High School
Perspectives
The Sacred Heart School of Montreal
Maison des jeunes de l'Escampette
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Loyola High School (Montreal Community Cares)
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Collège Durocher Saint Lambert
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upGen equip youth with the skills, knowledge and mindsets demonstrated by social innovators
The upGen workshops represent the start of a social innovation journey for youth between the ages of 12 to 18. Over the span of three sessions, students get immersed in design and technology-enabled social innovation through the lens of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
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Workshop 1
Using Design Thinking to solve social challenges
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Workshop 2
Becoming positive change-makers in healthcare, retail and cybersecurity
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Workshop 3
Discovering Artificial Intelligence for social good
Discover how Design Thinking can help us come up with human-centric and meaningful solutions
Frame social challenges using the UN SDGs model
Empathise with and understand challenges experienced by other individuals in society
Apply Design Thinking to challenges faced by personas within the context of retail, healthcare and cybersecurity
Have an understanding of what AI is and how it manifests itself in our daily lives
Understand the risks that AI can pose, and how to leverage technology for social good
Our team felt that the workshops had a positive impact on the youth...
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...by actually getting them to think and participate. The workshops allowed them to be creative and play. We loved the facilitators! They were great mentors for the youth, well prepared and very capable of responding to the dynamic atmosphere of our after school program.
I personally thought the content was excellent. The whole program was so well designed and prepared and clear and concise I couldn't believe we had access to the workshops for free. Top notch!
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Juliana Whiston, Maison Des Jeunes L'Escampette
Made possible this year thanks to our incredible community
Proud partners of the City of Montreal - Fier partenaire de la Ville de Montréal
Lead Industry Partners
Community Partners
Sponsors