On December 21, 2021,  Dr. Karine Rashkovsky, Founder and Director of Brain Power, received the Order of Vaughan, which “recognizes individuals who have been influential in shaping our city and contributed to the greater good of the community.” At the ceremony, Karine accepted her award from Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, and several Brain Power alumni presented heartfelt speeches about their journeys through the years with Brain Power. See the video below!

Brain Power student Emma Fung won a Canada-wide Gold Award (which is the highest award possible) in the Canadian Gray Jay Mathematical Competition! WOW! THAT’S AMAZING, EMMA! Fellow Brain Power student Roy Mei got on the Honour Roll, and several other Brain Power students performed with distinction or honours! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Brain Power student Mark Raspopov has won a Global Math Olympiad Scholarship (GMOS)—he is the first Canadian winner–and helped to bring Singapore International Mastery Challenge Center (SIMCC) contests to Canada! What a change-maker — and what a great new opportunity that is now available, thanks to Mark, for young Canadian math enthusiasts! After many gentle nudges, he was able to convince SIMCC to bring two Global Math Olympiads to Canada. Mark has won two Gold Medals for two Global Math Olympiads (SASMO and SIMOC) provided by the SIMCC, and he has been accepted into the International...

Brain Power Public Speaking student Zoe Kagan was selected from many applicants for Toronto’s competitive Soulpepper Curtain Up Program. Many students applied to be mentored by Toronto’s top performance artists and educators, and Zoe was chosen! THAT’S AMAZING! CONGRATULATIONS, ZOE!

On November 30, Brain Power’s book club met to have a detailed discussion of J. M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals. We also had a guest talk from Maureen Hutchison, a field educator with the Educated Choices Program, who discussed central issues in the book including the environment and modern agriculture. Our students had an enthusiastic reaction, and one of our Intermediate 1 students said, “I think that the book club was amazing and different than what I was expecting and that...

On May 4th, a group of Brain Power students, led by Dr. Karine Rashkovsky and Dr. Jason Boulet, attended the Young People’s Theatre’s production of Antigone. This production is a fresh and timely adaptation of the classic Greek story, inspired by the 2014 student umbrella protest in Hong Kong and the 1989 uprising in Tiananmen Square. In this riveting new play, “re-education” awaits anyone who questions the state’s traditional doctrine. Antigone faces high stakes as she stands up for her brother...

Brain Power recently welcomed David Silverberg as a guest speaker to our Public Speaking classes!  David is a very successful journalist who writes for the BBC, Washington Post, Vice Magazine, and Toronto’s NOW, and who is also the theatre director and founder of Canada’s largest spoken word organizations! While at Brain Power, David shared tips and knowledge, taking our students through various fun exercises to improve their communication skills! Thank you, David! 
It was a pleasure to have you!

We were excited to welcome Joze Piranian to our Public Speaking class on November 12th! Joze is a lifelong stutterer on the quest to confront his fears one stage a time. After spending most of his life avoiding speaking out of the fear of being judged for being “different,” he is now a TEDx speaker, Inspirational Speaker of the Year at Speaker Slam in 2017, and a stand-up comedian who has performed at the laugh Factory (Chicago), the Broadway Comedy Club (NY), Comedy Nest (Montreal), and Absolute Comedy...

Dr. Ana-Maria Jerca, Dr. Karine Rashkovsky, Brain Power students and families (…and even one BP alumni from Queen’s University!) attended a theatre-outing to enjoy Oscar Wilde’s classic play “The Importance of Being Earnest” at the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope, Ontario. Students in Intermediate and Senior Language Arts have been studying Oscar Wilde at Brain Power. What a treat to enjoy this great masterpiece together with live theatre! Post-show, we all congregated outdoors under the stars to deliberate the deeper takeaways from the play....

In July and August, Brain Power students in our Entrance Exam Preparation course received a free remote tour of the Supreme Court of Canada! The students had such a wonderful time learning about Canada’s court structure and how the Supreme Court got its power and continues to hear appeals. What a great experience!