On Friday, November 7, Specialist High Skills Majors (SHSM) students from Loretto Abbey Catholic Secondary School’s SHSM Business program and Brebeuf College School’s SHSM ICT program participated in an incredible Sector Partnered Experience (SPE) hosted by LearnIt and Slalom Consulting!
LearnIt delivers immersive experiences led by professionals, bringing the real world directly into high school classrooms. Slalom is a next-generation professional services and business consulting company creating value at the intersection of business, technology, and humanity. The day kicked off with an inspiring keynote from Kevin Derman, MSc, MBA, Slalom’s AI Innovation Lab’s National Strategic Alliance Director, who shared insights into future AI trends, emerging technologies, and a message of hope and possibility for younger generations.
Throughout the day, students were introduced to the Design Thinking process and applied it to solve the challenge: "Design an everyday Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistant that helps people make decisions when they feel overwhelmed or face too many choices." Students were instructed and inspired by Bernie Uche, MBA, who reviewed the Design Thinking process and discussed Empathy Maps as a tool to visualize what clients are experiencing. Students collaborated to identify a need, brainstormed possible solutions, and consolidated their learning into a final pitch.
Over lunch, they heard powerful career stories from Slalom’s Industry Panel and got a tour of Slalom’s inspiring, collaborative workspaces. The day wrapped up with the students presenting their exciting two-minute elevator pitches for their AI assistants to the industry panel, showcasing their innovation, teamwork, and design-thinking skills!
A huge thank you to the LearnIt and Slalom teams for providing this unforgettable experiential learning opportunity for our SHSM students!
