Students were guest speakers at a geography conference in Toronto last week.
Over 900 people attended the Esri Canada User Conference, "Applying Geography Everywhere," on October 14.
Grade 12 students Tristan Tsvetanov and Jimmy Yuan were introduced by Brent Hall, Esri Canada director of education and research, to attendees. Tristan and Jimmy were the only student presenters among a roster of industry experts. The students discussed the use of Business Analyst Online in their business ventures assignment for the McEwen Leadership program. For the assignment, students are divided into groups and are tasked to develop a complete business plan for a new start-up company. This involves creating a marketing and operating strategy, preparing financial projections, and considering resource management. Esri's ArcGIS Online digital mapping tools were used to develop and analyze market areas for their respective products.
Their presentation was well received, and the boys were complimented on their regional marketing decisions, their well-designed visual presentation, and their confidence when speaking. John F. Kitchen, Esri Canada vice president and general manager, greeted them after their session and told the boys of his connection to SAC as an Old Boy from the class of 1974.
Both John and Brent Hall chatted with the boys over lunch, after which Tristan and Jimmy attended a concurrent user session and visited display booths in the GIS exhibit hall.
The students were assisted in their presentation research and accompanied to the user conference by myself and Sean Ludwig, McEwen Leadership program Course Director.
Story by David Joiner, Head of Geography
