Catalyst Summer Program

The traditional Catalyst and Catalyst for Early Entrepreneur will run in parallel, and both will run for three sessions over the summer. The two streams will mirror quite similarly, with the traditional Catalyst having a greater emphasis on development of STEM skills and the Early Entrepreneurs Catalyst focusing on ideation and foundations of entrepreneurship in STEM fields.

During the application process, you will be asked which stream of Catalyst you are interested in attending and if accepted, you will be placed into that stream. You will be able to express interest in both streams, however, in order to allow more students to experience Catalyst and due to the similarities between the two streams, you can only be accepted into one stream of Catalyst.

The opportunity to build, test, research, present and collaborate on projects rooted in Engineering design, business and entrepreneurship and research.  Participants will build leadership skills while working on STEM-related projects and attending talks and workshops from Graduate students and Faculty.  The Summer program provides the opportunity for participants to gain experience practicing design thinking and problem-solving learning how to build ideas into a business and use their technical skills!

Although the main area of focus for activities will differ slightly between the Traditional Catalyst and Catalyst for Early Entrepreneurs, the overall structure, schedule and experience will be very similar. 

Here is an example of the high level schedule from the 2023 Catalyst sessions. STEM Activities will cover a broad range of topics for the traditional stream to ensure your interest is peaked throughout the program

Week 1:

Week 2:

The Catalyst Summer Program is only open to current high school students (entering grade 10 or higher in September 2024) and each applicant must submit an application in order to complete registration. Each session will be restricted to twenty-five students.  

Space is limited to 25 spots per session (150 total across the two streams). If you are successfully accepted into the program, you will be notified of which stream and session date you have been accepted for. You will then be sent a link to register for that session.

This program is planned to run in-person for Summer 2024. 

We are planning for three sessions to run for both the Traditional Catalyst and Catalyst for Early Entrepreneurs in Summer 2024. 

• Session I - July 8th-19th
• Session II - July 22nd-August 2nd
• Session III - August 12th-23rd

During the application process, you will be asked which session dates you will be available to attend and if accepted, you will be placed into a session based on your availability and the availability of other accepted applicants. If you are no longer able to attend the session that you were accepted into, please email catalyst@uwaterloo.ca and we will see if we can switch you into another session, although there is no guarantee we will be able to switch.

The program cost is $685+HST. 

Please note:

Payment will be due upon acceptance into the program. If accepted, applicants will receive an e-mail which provides information about using our registration system and paying the registration fee. There is no application fee for this program. If you are accepted into the program and offered a bursary, the bursary will be applied to your account before payment is due. 

Acceptable payment methods: 

Credit or Debit card:

Catalyst accepts MasterCard, VISA and American Express as well as Debit cards (non-Interac). Card numbers are kept with the utmost security. All charges are processed directly by the university and will appear on your credit card bill as either "U of W Cashiers Office" or "U of Waterloo ESQ (Engineering Science Quest)".

We do not accept cash or cheque payment.

Credit Card and debit payment must be made through our online registration system, we are not able to process payment on the phone or in person. 

If you require overnight accommodations:

Please note this program runs in-person and is not an overnight program.

Overnight accommodations are optional and can be booked separately and links will be sent to accepted applicants for next steps.

2024 TBD

The cost of this for 2023 was as follows:

**To confirm, overnight accommodations are not required to attend this program and are available to book for those who require it**

Applications for the 2024 Catalyst Summer Programs are now closed!

• Complete an application form: this form will ask you for basic contact information and will confirm you have read the information on the website regarding the application process and deadlines. Once the application form is submitted, you will receive an email with a link to complete an online assessment.
• Online assessment: New for 2024, Catalyst will be using an online assessment as part of the application process. A Kira assessment allows us to virtually meet you, get a sense of your personality and interests, and better understand how Catalyst will benefit you.
• Teacher reference: At the beginning of the online assessment, you will be asked to upload a teacher reference letter in pdf format. We recommend asking your teacher for a reference letter before starting the online assessment so you are prepared to upload it when starting the assessment. If your teacher would prefer to email the letter directly to us, they can send it to catalyst@uwaterloo.ca and participants can upload a letter to their online assessment indicating that the letter of reference was emailed. Teachers are welcome to mention anything they would like about the student, but some questions they could possibly touch on include:

  • Do you think this student would make a great STEM university student? If so, why?

  • What impresses you about this student (comment on academic ability and social skills)?
  • How do you think they will benefit from this program?
  • Any other comments about the student we should know about.

How the Online Assessment Works:

The process is simple. You will be asked a question either in video or written format, given prep time, and a set amount of time to respond. You will respond with a video for video questions, and text for written questions. It should only take 20 to 30 minutes total to complete and can be done on your own time. 

You will require a desktop or laptop computer with a functioning webcam, microphone, and internet connection. The system allows for unlimited practice sessions but once you start the formal interview questions, you only get one chance. This allows us to capture your candid responses. 

Don't worry, you can practice as much as you’d like once you receive the link and complete your formal assessment later if you choose.

The deadline for completing the formal assessment is February 16th at 12PM EST. 

The 2024 application timeline will be as follows:

• December 22nd, 2023 at 12PM EST-Applications open
• February 16th, 2024 at 12PM EST-Applications close
• February 16th-April 1st, 2024-the Catalyst team reviews applications 
• April 1st-April 15th, 2024-Accepted applicants are notified of their acceptance and which stream and session they are invited to attend

If you are accepted into the program and can no longer attend the session date you were accepted into, please email catalyst@uwaterloo.ca and we will do our best to accommodate switches, but we cannot guarantee a spot in another session will be available.