Five ways Waterloo inspires the next generation

The University of Waterloo was founded to inspire and empower the next generation. With a commitment to bettering humanity and our planet, Waterloo is at the forefront of connecting the next generation of leaders to programs that will inspire the next gamut of solutions for us to thrive in a complex future. 

Each year, tens of thousands of children and youth visit our campuses. If you’re from Waterloo region, you’ve likely heard of Engineering Science Quest (ESQ), Canada’s leading engineering and science camp, hosted right here on our campus. You may also know about Kinesiology Lab Days, where after having been around for 50 years, registration sells out faster than Taylor Swift concert tickets.  

But did you know of these other outreach programs that attract youth from across the province, and beyond? 

STEMpowered

Through collaboration and partnerships with a number of community organizations, self-identifying Black youth from Grades 2 to 12 come to campus each summer to explore fun topics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This summer, the free summer camps run for seven weeks and include a variety of hands-on activities, where participants also get the opportunity to connect with STEM mentors. Programming is designed by Engineering Outreach, Faculty of Engineering, and includes activities like building robots, sharpening coding and architectural skills, making ice cream with liquid nitrogen, and much more. School year programs also include after school clubs, participation in community events, and a two-day conference for high school students.

Kids’ Science Open House

For over two decades, more than 3,000 young aspiring scientists from across southern Ontario visit our Kids’ Science Open House on campus each October for free hands-on science discovery and experiments. From biology and chemistry to physics and earth sciences, participants get the opportunity to explore various interests and personalize their experience. While some take a close look at animal skeletons and skulls, future health-care leaders learn the difference between candy, germs and medicine. With no shortage of activities to choose from, earth and planetary science enthusiasts get the chance to learn more about their water footprint and how to find stars and galaxies, while the tech-savvy learn to build circuits and codes.

The CEMC

The Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) is one of Canada’s foremost authorities on mathematics and computer science for young people. The free CEMC School Visits program reaches approximately 8,500 students in 130 schools in Canada and approximately 16,500 students at close to 115 schools in a dozen countries across the globe. In these school visits, CEMC mathematicians and computer scientists lead students and teachers in their classrooms through problem-solving activities that complement the curriculum and increase understanding about the usefulness and applications of mathematics and computer science in the real world. About 1.5 million students, educators and guardians use the CEMC's free Problem of the Week resources, designed for students in Grades 3 to 12; their free online comprehensive curriculum materials for students in Grades 7 to 12 attract more than 10 million annual pageviews, and approximately 270,000 students from Grades 5 to 12 from more than 80 countries register for the CEMC's mathematics and computing contests annually. 

Envirothon 

Since 2015, the Ecology Lab and Faculty of Environment has hosted the Grand River Region Envirothon, an academic competition for high school students and budding environmental leaders that immerses them in hands-on learning and discovery. Working in partnership with the Ecology lab, the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability provides learning resources, trains and tests students on four categories: wildlife, forestry, aquatic ecosystems and soils. The program was developed to hone students’ communication, critical thinking, collaboration and leadership skills. Students participate in teams and deliver an 8-minute presentation on a current environmental issue. The winning team from this region goes on to test its knowledge at the provincial competition. 

Waterloo Brain Bee

For high school students fascinated by the human brain, Waterloo Brain Bee through the Faculty of Health is an exciting opportunity for them to learn more about the importance of brain research. Participants are given free access to an introductory neuroscience booklet to study topics on memory, sleep, intelligence, emotion, perception, stress and neurotransmitters, to list a few. Hundreds of students are then invited to campus to engage with live demonstrations of neuroscience lab activities and participate in a multiple-choice quiz for cash prizes for the first, second and third place winners. The first-place winner also gets the opportunity to return to campus to learn additional neuroanatomy using real human brain specimen and advances to compete in the National Brain Bee competition. 

With hundreds of inspiring and community-building activities for youth of all ages to participate in each year, including off-campus initiatives that reach tens of thousands, here are a few others you may not have known about.  

Theatres at Waterloo: The Department of Communication Arts in the Faculty of Arts produces a series of workshops and performances each year created by faculty, students and visiting artists. The annual workshop in December brings approximately 120 high school students to campus, while the matinee mainstage productions attract more than 600.

Travelling STEM: A free community program through Engineering Outreach within the Faculty of Engineering that visits Indigenous communities across Ontario to share exciting STEM possibilities with youth from kindergarten to Grade 11. In summer 2023, the pilot program engaged 276 students through 17 camps and events.

Waterloo Warriors Camps: From basketball, hockey, baseball, swimming, volleyball and many more, campers can choose between multi-sport, sport-specific, high-performance or leaderships camps where they learn to compete with integrity, uphold good sportsmanship, develop leadership and make healthy lifestyle choices.