Students in the Sooke School District (SD62) will now have innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities at their fingertips, thanks to an RBC Future Launch grant from RBC Foundation. The state-of-the-art EdTech platform will help students seamlessly lead a startup business from idea creation to a validated and pitch-ready business.

“We know it is important to prepare students for what’s next; the workforce, a career, travel, whatever it may be, with early exposure and exploration of not only career pathways, but the problems that students are interested in solving once they graduate from SD62,” says Dante Di Ponio, SD62 Careers & Transitions Coordinator. “This platform is an exciting way we can facilitate this kind of innovation and creative skill-building for our students. We are very grateful for the support of RBC Foundation as together we can empower high school students to resonate with the future workforce and become the change-makers of tomorrow.”

The EdTech platform will be available to students in Grades 9 to 12. The platform, called Young Empowered Startuppers (YES), is an award winning fully road mapped digital entrepreneurship journey delivering innovative and robust online learning and activity that students anywhere can access with a simple login. Starting with basic ambition and curiosity, students will find unique solutions to real world problems, build their entrepreneurial skills and prep them for entering the workforce. https://yes.empoweredstartups.com/

“Whether it’s retraining or starting fresh, it’s clear that the skills needed to excel in today’s workplace are changing,” says Mark Lovick, Regional Vice President, Vancouver Island South, RBC. “That’s what RBC Future Launch is all about, and through our partnership with SD62, we hope to enable young people to identify, articulate, and build their skills — and help young Canadians develop them.”

RBC Future Launch is the Royal Bank of Canada’s commitment to supporting the youth of today entering the ever-changing workforce, through unique partnerships and programming, along with an investment of $500 million towards this important social issue. School districts are eligible to apply for funding for the YES learning platform through RBC Future Launch. https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/futurelaunch/

Learn more about the Sooke School District https://www.sd62.bc.ca/

View the original release here.