TKS End Of Year Showcase

This was the last time that this year’s TKS students were going to officially be together. Last Saturday, we had our final end of year showcase, where all the kids in TKS Calgary got to come together and show everyone what they’ve built over the past 10 months, alongside some other panels/events that took place.

We started off the event with a “science fair” style showcase of all the projects that we worked on over the 10 months. For my stand, I showcased two of my favourite projects: my CRISPR-Cas3 system I built (from my focus) and ClotGuard (from moonshots, which I would be presenting more on later).

Then, we had everyone meet at the main stage to do presentations on the projects they chose and wanted to share the most. I presented ClotGuard again alongside Sophia Dhami and Arissai Filleul. What I found so unique about our presentation was that normally it’s recommended for 1-2 people to present. But we really wanted our entire team to be there, so we had all three of us come up and present in a way that was still clear and engaging for the audience, which I was very proud of. I was also really happy to get to share this project to everyone and show them how passionate the 3 of us are about it.

After the presentations, we then had a panel with the Mayor of the City of Calgary, Jyoti Gondek, and Brad Perry, the CEO of Calgary Economic Development, one of the partners that helped support TKS in Calgary to make it a reality.

We got to hear insights about some of the benefits of innovating in Calgary and the role of Calgary Economic Development in Calgary’s innovation. We also got to learn about Calgary’s innovation growth, how in 5 years it turned into a hub for innovation and creation for people all over the world.

Our last main event was a TKS Innovate/Activate/Alumni panel, where some of the kids from both this year’s innovate and activate program, as well as one alumni, got to talk about their experiences in TKS and share their goals and why they loved the program.

To finish off the event, we got a certificate for our completion of TKS and, as the winners of moonshots, a separate award to commemorate that.

And that was the end of the TKS showcase. And this also marks my last official blog post for the TKS Innovate program! It was really great to reflect on all the amazing stuff I’ve done in this program and all the amazing people I got to meet. And this showcase was the perfect event to wrap up. But, I will be continuing this “series” next year when I start TKS activate, so be sure to look for that soon!

This was such a great year, and I can’t wait for what’s next in store! Be sure to look here form time to time for any updates, as well as to keep checking out my newsletter, which will be updating as normal!