“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the selfesteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton
“It’s getting to bounce your ideas off of a group of people, ones who you trust,” says Ms. Sgabellone. “No one’s going to go run away with our idea. They’re willing to be honest with you because they want the same in return.” Patti Church, a professor at Algonquin who acts as both co-ordinator and facilitator for the program, echoes the importance of these connections. “If you’re an entrepreneur and you can’t find others, you feel isolated,” she says. “When entrepreneurs get together, they build momentum. And that’s what we’ve seen with that group: they’re feeding off of each other, ideas, networks.” Since it’s the program’s pilot year, organizers are keeping the schedule flexible. If, for example, the students say they need more time on financials, there are open sessions during which additional practice can be scheduled. Summit’s diverse approach to its participants and offerings is not without its challenges. “A student from the game development program or the computer science program would have no starting point (on financials),” says Ms. Church. “For something like that, we realized once we did the session, ‘OK, we need to do a second one if we have time in the
Université d’Ottawa
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Ak Chavda from Package Pal (left) works alongside Tattoo Hero’s Brandon Waselnuk and Christina Miller of Exploria. PHOTO BY MARK HOLLERON
schedule because they didn’t get as far as we thought they would.’” She notes that future iterations may select participants who are all at a similar stage in business development to zero in on the content they need most.
For students thinking they may want to join Summit in future years, Mr. Camarena has some advice. “You can come in here with a true passion behind your idea or maybe not,” he says. “If you really don’t care about
your idea, and you really don’t think this is something you really want to live and breathe, then I don’t think it would be really worth your time being in the program. Realize the fact that you have an amazing opportunity in front of you.”
University of Ottawa
BETTER LIMBS, BETTER LIVES Biomedical engineering student Alexander Helal is working on prosthetic limbs that move more like real muscles. His goal: improving the agility and mobility of the kids who need them.
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