BrainStation announced today the launch of BrainStation Academy 2015, a Canada-wide coding program for high school aged youth. Running in Toronto, Vancouver, and Waterloo, and in partnership with AOL Canada, Deloitte Digital and Konrad Group, the program provides full scholarships to all 150 students in the program. BrainStation Academy will be a first of its kind coding and digital skills summer program for high school students across Canada.
"BrainStation Academy goes beyond teaching students to write lines of code. We are creating an in-class experience that imbues youth with a passion for technology", said Jason Field, founder of BrainStation. "Nothing is more exciting than seeing students evolve from consumers to creators of the digital space".
Beginning August 1st, 2015, selected scholarship applicants will have access to an innovative real-time curriculum led by experienced instructors and industry speakers. Over four intensive weekends, students will plan, test, build and launch websites that advocate for social causes important to their generation while building their digital literacy skills.
"Simplifying the Internet to unleash the world's greatest creators of culture and code is our mission as a company, a mission that is perfectly aligned with the BrainStation Academy program," said Joe Strolz, General Manager, AOL Canada. "Equipping a generation of digital natives to create through code is not just good business for the Technology industries, but it's also a catalyst that is fostering solutions for the societal challenges of the digital age."
"We are very excited about working with BrainStation Academy to help students build their technology and design skills for tomorrow", said Gordon Sandford, National Practice Leader of Deloitte Digital. "With this program, we want to empower the younger generation to be innovative and confident in their ability to lead the digital revolution—and fully realize the career opportunities in this field."
BrainStation currently offers part-time and full-time courses in business, design, and technology led by industry experts across Canada, including User Experience Design, and Introduction to Web Development (www.brainstation.io/courses/), which informs BrainStation Academy's curriculum.
"Canada is facing a significant, and growing, talent shortage in the areas of technology, and digital design. We see this every day across our businesses" said Bill Konrad, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Konrad Group, a leading digital agency. "Konrad Group is supporting this program because we believe that in order to address this gap, digital education must start earlier, and be more in tune with the real requirements of industry"
The BrainStation Summer Code Academy begins August 1, 2015 and runs in Toronto, Waterloo and Vancouver. Full scholarships are awarded to all Canadian youth enrolled in high-school for fall 2015.
To apply or learn more about this opportunity, please visit www.brainstation.io/academy
