Brain Power students took top spots in 40th Annual DECA Provincial Competitions – and they say their Public Speaking classes at Brain Power helped them win! Miyuki Mori (pictured above & below) placed in the top 20 in Ontario for her oral speaking skills, and Andreea Murariu (pictured below) and Cora Usurelu (pictured below) were both selected to move on to the Internationals! CONGRATULATIONS!
WE ARE SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU! Andreea Murariu Cora Usurelu Miyuki Mori

Brain Power Public Speaking student Ernest Tang (pictured below) has been accepted to the competitive Harvard Pre-College Program for the summer! Harvard Pre-College students will have the experience of being introduced to college life, attending challenging classes, living on campus, and enjoying fun excursions and activities. Ernest says: “The summer at Harvard’s Pre-College Program will be very unique and invaluable to my learning. I am so glad I found out about this program through Brain Power, and I am very grateful for being provided with this opportunity. I have high hopes...

Brain Power Senior 2 student Andy Gong, Senior 2 student Jason Li, and alumni Cora Usurelu (all pictured below) have all been accepted to SHAD! “SHAD’s mission is to empower exceptional youth to make the world a better place. Every July, a select group of Canada’s best and brightest high school students come together to experience SHAD’s unique experiential-learning program – rooted in the STEAM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics – while gaining entrepreneurial and workforce skills and a network for life.” CONGRATULATIONS, ANDY, JASON, AND CORA! Andy...

Brain Power alumni Diana Pik is working on an honours biology degree at York University, and she recently had the opportunity to present her work at an Educational Experience Symposium to York University President and Vice-Chancellor, Rhonda Lenton. Diana says: “Thanks to both the writing as well as public speaking and presenting skills I learned at Brain Power, I was able to showcase my work to York University President and Vice-Chancellor, Rhonda Lenton. …I wanted to thank you for all of the...

STUDENTS GRADES 6 – 12 – JOIN US FOR OUR MAY BOOK CLUB! The Young People’s Theatre’s production of Antigone 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 against her father’s complicity with tyranny. In the...

If we had to, would humans actually be able to talk to aliens? Backed by science, Brain Power tackled this fascinating linguistics puzzle—and more—at our fall book club, hosted by Dr. Karine Rashkovsky and our resident linguist, Dr. Cassandra Chapman!

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...

On June 21st, Brain Power’s Public Speaking students were visited by award-winning poet, youth educator, and workshop facilitator, Patrick de Belen! For the past seven years, Patrick has visited about 100 schools, holding spoken word poetry workshops for the students. In 2012 he became the youngest spoken-word poet to hold the National Championship title at the Canadian Festival of the Spoken Word. In 2016 Patrick was selected as the Youth Poet of Honour of Canada.

On November 15th, Brain Power’s Public Speaking students went on a field trip to the Speaker Box Poetry Slam competition! This year’s event was the last for this amazing competition, which has been running since 2012. This was a valuable opportunity for our students to learn, first-hand, how the theory of public speaking becomes practice. While all students learned a lot simply from being there, two of our students (see pictures below) competed in the event! Cora Usurelu Tian Shi Yuan Brain Power enjoys an...

Brain Power’s Public Speaking class went on their annual visit to a recording studio! Our students got a chance to record their self-made speeches and podcasts, putting much of the theory they learned in class into practice. They also received valuable feedback from a professional voice coach, and they got to see “behind the scenes” at a professional recording studio!

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