Throughout the academic year, Melinda Giampietro, Options Founder/President, will share some of her favourite things in her monthly Founder’s Feature. Melinda loves reading, data, research, and following academic and adolescent news around the world.
October’s Book Reviews
I read so many books this summer. So many. A few I thought were worthy reads: The Burning Side, Mad Mabel, This Story Might Save Your Life, and Valley of the Moms. Mad Mabel really caught and broke my heart. Valley of the Dolls takes a strange post-secondary spin. Can we seriously talk about Yesteryear? The book follows a tradwife influencer. And it’s a doozy. I really enjoyed this interview with its author, Caro Claire Burke, in Marie Claire Australia. I find her own intentions and revelations about the book incredibly interesting.
October’s AI Conversation Feature
On Tuesday, September 29th, Options Solutions® hosted Vaseem Baig, an AI specialist, to bring parents and students into a shared conversation about AI. It was a really fun event, and the crowd especially appreciated Vaseem’s G.U.I.D.E.R. framework for AI prompts. The recording is now available for purchase.
This summer, I also worked with Vaseem to improve my personal AI skills and to help streamline some processes at Options. He turned me on to Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All. It’s a valuable read, especially considering that Canada ranks 20th out of 35 countries for AI Literacy among firms with 10 or more employees.
We need to be sure our students are gaining the AI skills they need. And this September, the Government of Canada launched the National AI Literacy Initiative. According to the press release, “The initiative will provide free, practical learning opportunities to help Canadians understand AI, use it responsibly and benefit from the opportunities it creates.” We are watching closely to see how this rolls out.
October’s Event of the Month
This past Sunday, Christina Brown and I launched our second cohort of Growing Leaders Forum. Growing Leaders Forum (GLF) is a leadership collective built on one belief: developing the next generation of female leaders requires intention, investment, and extraordinary community. Sara Jonsdottir, Founder and CEO of Revol Cares, kicked off our programming by sharing both her entrepreneurial journey and inspiring, authentic experience. GLF runs in parallel with The Forum Pitch program. If you know a founder looking to raise capital, have them apply!!
Canadian University Event (CUE) Counsellor Update
On Monday, October 5th, Options Solutions® attended one of our favourite gatherings of the year: the Canadian University Event’s counsellor update. It was great to reconnect with many of our favourite people and make some new connections as well. At Options, we put much of our time and energy into building our network, and we rely on it to keep up with the dynamic world of university admissions. We are so grateful to all the university representatives who answer our emails (often on weekends!!) and help us to really see inside the admissions offices and intimately understand their individual processes. A special thanks to Brandon at Queen’s and Sarah at Huron for walking us through the nuances of their writing and video interview changes.
To read more Founder’s Features, check them out under the Options News category.
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