February + March Newsletter
What I've been up to these past two months!
About Me! 👋
Hey! I’m Peyton, a 16 y/o who is super passionate about making an impact on the world 🌎. A little bit about me, I am an Innovator at TKS, very interested in business and entrepreneurship (in fact, I have even founded two start-ups) and I’m a triple threat. 🎭💃🎶
These past two months have been a month busy to say the least, filled with The Knowledge Society’s Focus Hackathon, a consulting project with Walmart, running initiatives for my non-profit, receiving a community award, oh and even meeting Justin Bieber! 🤩
The Knowledge Society 🚀
7 months down at TKS ✅ and I’ve been enjoying every minute of it! For those of you who are not familiar with this program, let me fill you in. TKS is a 10-month long human accelerator designed to train teenagers to solve the world's biggest problems through training in emerging technologies and mindsets. 🦄
Focus Hackathon 💻
We kicked off the month with a 24hr Focus Hackathon where 4 others and myself all worked together to create an innovative solution to a problem we are passionate about using the knowledge and expertise we have gained from our focuses. As my Focus is in the Future of Food, I teamed up with a few others who are completing their focuses in Cellular Agriculture. Ashna, Isabella, Khushi, Simran and I created BioWaste - turning food waste into bioplastics.
If you wanna learn more about BioWaste be sure to check out our pitch video as well as our slide deck. ⬇️
Walmart Consulting Global Challenge 🏆 🌎
During February and March, over the course of 4 weeks, my team (Zoe Poulidis, Abhay Ratti, Khushi Sharma, Pavi Dhiman) and I worked alongside Walmart as consultants. We provided their executive team with an extensive recommendation as to what we think the retail store of 2030 should look like. As soon we get the green light, I'll be sharing our recommendation deck in my newsletter, so make sure you're subscribed!
My Non-Profit: Project Be Kind
These past two months have been super busy at TKS, but I still managed to run a few initiatives for my non-profit, Project Be Kind. As we all know, COVID has dampened the spirits of many, and the world has surely become a less kind place. My organization aims to encourage others to embrace kindness and make it a mindset. One small act of kindness not only inspires you but has the power to inspire the world.
For Valentine’s Day I created blessing bags for those facing homelessness in downtown Toronto. I wanted to give them something, even if it was small, to brighten their day and remind them that they matter and are loved. It's the little things that count and seeing how appreciative each recipient was truly warmed my heart. ❤️
Then to celebrate International Random Acts of Kindness Day on February 17th, I rallied up some volunteers at school and together we wrote 1,300 sticky notes of positive messages and affirmations. That’s 1,300 kind acts created by a small group of us in one day 🤯 It was extremely well received, and I loved seeing the smiles on my peers’ faces.
Not only that but I was also recognized by my area's MPP, Dr. Jill Andrew for being a positive force of change during COVID and lending a helping hand in my community. Although I am by no means doing what I’m doing for accolades, it felt good knowing that my work was being recognized. 😊 Looking forward to seeing where Project Be Kind takes me next!
Meeting Justin Bieber
Yeah, you read that right! This month I went to my first ever Maple Leaf’s game 🏒 and while I was there, I turned around and saw the one and only, Justin Bieber sitting right behind me! We snapped a selfie 📸 and celebrated Toronto's win in his newly designed Maple Leaf jerseys.
Goals and What to Expect in April:
Continue building out Project Be Kind + run another initiative ❤️
Crush the upcoming TKS Moonshot Challenge 🚀
Playing on an Ultimate Frisbee team (for the first time) 🥏
Well, that is it for me, I hope you have a great past two months and here's to an even better April! See you next month :)
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn ➔ https://www.linkedin.com/in/peyton-verhoeven-661a53185
Follow me on Medium ➔ https://medium.com/@peytonverhoeven