Students
UCalgary's Global Community Challenge YYC now taking applications for our Fall 2023 challenge round!
The deadline to apply is Sept. 14, 2023. Get involved, collaborate with other students around the world, and become a catalyst for meaningful change in your community.
How does it work?
It may be hard to imagine doing something locally that has an impact across the world. Calgary has a thriving global community and there are plenty of organizations having that type of impact already.
So where do you come in?
Now more than ever, organizations must demonstrate the ability to pivot and respond to issues and needs as they arise. They may be facing new challenges as a result of recent international and local events. The Global Community Challenge YYC (GCC) creates opportunities for you to work in cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary teams to identify solutions for issues faced by these organizations in Calgary. In doing so, you will develop skills in teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, and communication while building your intercultural capacity and positioning yourself to become an innovation catalyst for meaningful change in approaching real-world challenges.
Eligibility
Teams composition
Important details
All students will be added to a Desire2Learn (D2L) site to receive program reminders and access program content. Your mentors will also be added to the D2L site to access your work and provide feedback when needed.
It is also expected that you have regular contact with your group, mentor, and community partner via email and/or an agreed upon method of communication (ex: whatsapp, discord, slack, etc).
This year we are introducing an app called goosechase which is like a virtual scavenger hunt! During the challenge there will be opportunities to gain points for participating in program activities, with a prize at the end for the winner!
Each team will have an assigned mentor(s) to support them in the development of their proposed solution. You are expected to have 3-4 meetings (approximately 1.5 hours each) with your mentors across the span of the challenge between late September to November over zoom.
Some suggested themes for your meetings should be:
- 1 initial meeting for introductions and brainstorming
- 1 meeting to finalize narrowing down problem scope and ideas for solutions
- 1-2 meetings for follow up and finalizing ideas
In case of any questions or issues, please contact the program coordinators at global.challenge@ucalgary.ca and we will follow up to make sure you are supported.
We will be running 7 separate workshops across the span of the challenge. All workshops will be held virtually on zoom. The links and passwords to enter sessions will be posted on D2L.
You can find the themes, schedule, and more details about each one in the schedule below.
Students are strongly encouraged to attend all workshops live as workshops are highly interactive in nature will provide maximum benefit if you participate with your team. If you are unable to attend, please let us know. You must attend the kick off live and at least two other workshops live to meet the certificate requirement.
We expect that participating in this challenge will require students to commit approximately 30 hours of their time. This would include, workshops, meetings with community partners and mentors, working with your team, and the final presentations.
Refer to the student guide for more details and expectations of the challenge.
Fall 2023 challenges
Fall 2023 challenges now posted! Click the image above.
Photo by Danielle MacInnes on Unsplash
Past challenges from community partners
For examples of past challenges, click the image above to see the full list of challenges and community partners involved in our Fall 2020 competition.
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash
Judging criteria
Wondering how you'll be judged in the competition rounds? Click the picture above to see the tentive judging rubric.
Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash
What's in it for you?
While this program does not count for academic credit, it will help you develop skills that will be relevant to both current and future educational and professional opportunities. There are many benefits that the GCC will provide you with, which include (but are not limited to):
- Gain hands-on experience addressing real-life issues related to a global issue or problem of interest
- Develop new skills in research, entrepreneurship, problem-solving, and team-building while spending time working with students from different disciplines and countries, learning different approaches to the chosen problem
- Gain experience preparing and presenting compelling arguments in front of academic and community leaders
- Earn recognition among your peers and local university community
- Make connections with others who have a passion for changing the world
- Expand your professional development network through collaborations with local and global peers, mentors, and expert panelists
- Participate in a series of custom workshops designed to help you feel confident planning and executing your project
- Receive Co-Curricular Record recognition for your expected 30 hours of engagement and participation (UCalgary participants)
- Boost your graduate/professional school application, as well as your CV/resume
Challenge Timeline
This is the tentative schedule for our Fall 2023 challenge and is subject to change.
Aug. 28, 2023
Student and Mentor applications open
Sept. 8, 2023
Information session for students from UCalgary
Noon - 1pm in the Life Design Hub (MSC 171)
Sept. 11, 2023
Information session for students from international partner schools
10-11am on zoom
Sept. 21, 2023
Mentor acceptances announced via email
Sept. 25, 2023
Mentor training
Details to be sent out via email to accepted mentors
Sept. 25, 2023
Student acceptances announced via email
Please be advised: due to limited capacity, we will only email candidates who have been selected. Thank you for your understanding.
Oct. 2, 2023
Workshop #1: Challenge Kickoff and Introduction
Details to be sent out via email to accepted students
Oct. 4, 2023
Workshop #2: Innovating for Impactful Projects
Details to be sent out via email to accepted students
Oct. 9, 2023
Workshop #3: Introduction to Building Your Intercultural Capacity
This workshop will be run at 2 separate times this week. Details to be sent out to accepted students
Oct. 16, 2023
Workshop #4: Building Intercultural Awareness
This workshop will be run at 2 separate times this week. Details to be sent out to accepted students
Oct. 23, 2023
Workshop #5: Building a Strong Team
This workshop will be run at 2 separate times this week. Details to be sent out to accepted students
Oct. 30, 2023
Feedback Round: From October 30 to November 3, students will have no workshops to attend, but are expected to touch base with their community partner and their assigned UCalgary feedback judge with a draft of their project to gather feedback before preparing their presentations.
Details to be sent out to accepted students
Nov. 6, 2023
Workshop #6: Professional Applications of Challenge Work
Workshop #7: Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
These workshops may be changed earlier, or be offered asynchronously as recorded presentations. Details to be sent out to accepted students
Nov. 17, 2023
Final Presentations: November 17 is the deadline for groups to submit their presentation materials. The final presentations, Q&A periods, and judging will be held at the end of the week.
More details coming soon
Nov. 23, 2023
Challenge finals
The top 5 teams will be announced, with presentation and Q&A with the judges.
Dec. 1, 2023
Deadline for all teams to have their handover meeting with their community partner.