Creative Encounters recognized with 2025 Actua Experience Award – National Girls Program
Creative Encounters at the University of Guelph has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Actua Experience Award – National Girls Program, recognizing its sustained commitment to engaging girls and gender-diverse youth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The national award highlights excellence among Actua network members whose programs support underrepresented youth and foster inclusive, skills-based learning environments.
The Actua Experience Award celebrates organizations that demonstrate strong alignment with the goals of Actua’s National Girls Program, a Canada-wide initiative established in 1998 to address declining participation of girls in STEM education. Award recipients are selected based on demonstrated impact, accessibility, mentorship, and the creation of welcoming spaces that support confidence and long-term engagement in STEM.
Creative Encounters (CE), a shared outreach initiative between the College of Engineering (COE) and the College of Computational, Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CCMPS), delivers a wide range of STEM programs for youth across Guelph and surrounding communities. In 2024 alone, CE engaged more than 500 girls and gender-diverse youth through targeted camps, conferences, and one-day events.
A cornerstone of this work is PAGES (Promoting Awareness for Girls in Engineering and Science), a program established in 1998 that continues to evolve in response to participant feedback. Each summer, Creative Encounters integrates PAGES Takeover weeks across its Grade 2–8 camps, creating gender-diverse focused learning environments that include additional mentorship, social programming, and structured reflection.
CE also delivers the annual Go-Girl series, including Go ENG Girl and Go CODE Girl. In 2024, Creative Encounters developed and launched the first-ever Go PHYS Girl event, a model that has since been adopted by five other Actua member institutions. These one-day programs bring participants from across Guelph and the Greater Toronto Area to campus for hands-on workshops, networking activities, and mentorship led by undergraduate and graduate volunteers from groups such as Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE), Guelph Women in Computer Science (GWiCS), and the Physics and Astronomy Club. Since its introduction in 2024, the Go PHYS Girl model has been adopted by five other Actua member institutions.
Support from campus and community partners has been central to the program’s success. The establishment of the Doody Family Chair for Women in Engineering, held by Dr. Jana Levison, has strengthened outreach capacity and long-term sustainability for CE’s girl-focused initiatives, including PAGES and the Go-Girl Series. Additional support is provided by industry partners Denso Manufacturing, a sponsor of Go-Girl programming and Women in Engineering initiatives, with further sponsorship from IFAB/Dennis Group for Go ENG Girl events. Together, these efforts contribute to the University of Guelph’s strategic priority to increase participation of underrepresented groups in STEM and reflect a coordinated approach to equity-focused outreach.
Previous recipients of Actua Experience Awards include:
2023: Ontario Tech University Engineering Outreach, Ontario Tech University and Worlds UNBound, University of New Brunswick
2021: Venture Academy, McMaster University
2018: Science Venture, University of Victoria
2015: Virtual Ventures, Carleton University