It is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the Shad Valley Impact Internship Blogging project. As a 2009 Shad Valley Laval Alum, and last year’s Shad Intern, this is a project that is close to my heart. I am greatly honoured to be the Shad Valley Internship Program Director this year for Impact. Shad was definitely the best experience of my life, and I am very thankful for the internship that got me involved in Impact.

Check out their blog posts: http://shadintern.tumblr.com/

Shad Valley is an award-winning summer enrichment program for the top high school students in the country to experience 4 weeks of business, entrepreneurship, science, engineering, and leadership. In this month long program, the students are placed at one of ten universities campuses across Canada, where they experience real university life, participate in lectures, seminars, design competitions, and much more. Shad is a truly life changing experience as all the students make life-long friendships, and discover themselves in ways they never thought possible. Personally, Shad has allowed me to discover my talents, pushed me beyond my limits, and definitely made me step outside my comfort zone. I thank Shad for all the opportunities it provided me with, especially getting involved in Impact.

Canada’s online shopping and auction giant, eBay Canada, will be rewarding the most productive and innovative entrepreneurs and small business owners who sell products through their website in their Sixth Annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.  Currently, tens of thousands of Canadians gain income through eBay.  Since eBay Canada’s launch in 2000, more than 114 million items have been sold through the website.

This year, three awards are up for grabs, the first being the overall Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which recognizes small business owners who have benefited greatly through their online sales using eBay.  Last year’s winner of this award, Shaun Shienfield, has used eBay to increase online sales of his premium pre-owned golf balls.  His sales has grown significantly, to the point where he has set up a call centre to meet demand.  Presently, Shienfield’s business is the largest online seller of pre-owned golf balls.

A new award for this year is the Innovator of the Year Award, open to eBay small business owners who make use of innovative practices to engage and attract customers to advance their online businesses.  Also unique to this year’s contest is the Family Business of the Year Award, which is open to eBay small business owners who work with one or more family member(s).

In this week’s video launched by I Am My Ambition, Canadian paralympian and wheelchair athlete Jeff Adams shares his experiences on overcoming barriers and setbacks.

Apart from having won a total of 13 medals from six consecutive Summer Paralympic Games from 1988-2008, Adams has won six world championships, climbed the 1,776 steps of the CN tower using a specially designed wheelchair, scaled the Acropolis, and co-founded Marvel Wheelchairs, a company dedicated to improving the design of existing wheelchairs.

In the newest video from I Am My Ambition, Jeff Adams talks about how overcoming obstacles can really strengthen oneself.  Watch the video at the I Am My Ambition website and tell us what you think!

I Am My Ambition launched its latest video today!  This week’s video features Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery, the creators of Kill Shakespeare Entertainment.

Kill Shakespeare is a comic book series where the greatest heroes of William Shakespeare’s plays are pitted against Shakespeare’s most menacing villains.  The heroes set out for a quest to find a reclusive wizard named William Shakespeare who may have the ability to assist them in their fight against the villains, while the villains are on a mission to kill the wizard Shakespeare.

In I Am My Ambition’s newest video, Anthony Del Col and Conor McCreery discuss their experiences working in a partnership, as well as the hard decisions that they have had to make.  Watch the video on Youtube here or on the IAMA website and tell us what you think!

Held at Waterloo-Kitchener’s most fabulous venue, Communitech’s signature event took place in the early morning of Wednesday, July 14^th. Eight of us had the opportunity to be part of this high-profile conference, and were able to walk away with a set of fresh ideas.

Kicking off by keynote Clay Christensen, bestselling author of The Innovator’s Dilemma, the conference raised the energy of the attendance by Christensen’s unique theory about disruption.

The other two keynotes did not disappoint either. Bill Taylor, the co-founder of Fast Company, invited us to rethink about the differences between individuals. Noel Biderman, President of Avid Life Media, challenged our perspectives on social entertainment by confronting us with one of the most controversial websites.

Aside from the innovative speeches, we also took part in Communitech’s annual tech expo, and interacted with regional’s leading firms and high potential startups.

We felt applied to the HR team and Impact in general from matters such as being innovative and accepting ideas (from Noel’s speech) to understanding that we need to distinguish ourselves. – Macro Yim

I loved the conference for its great organization, high delegate moral and quality, and wonderful keynote. – Yue Liu

These take-aways, I’m sure, will spur us as we take on more future challenges to grow Impact bigger and better.

A huge thank you to Communitech for inviting us to this amazing conference and great job on all of our Impact ambassadors: Oleg Kostour, Nikhita Singh, Yong Gi Lim, Eric Ho, Susan Wang, Yue Liu, Marco Yim, and Scott Toldsdorf. Loved all your enthusiasm and professionalism!

Image courtesy of Communitech at http://www.communitech.ca/en/special_events/index.shtml