Over the past several months, students from across the Calgary Board of Education and Rockyview School Division have been challenging themselves to envision what iconic and soon-to-be iconic Calgary locations could look like.

Students in the third season of the Minecraft Education Level Up Challenge were asked to design a Green Line station, re-design Haultain Park, and even create the Central Memorial Library as part of this year’s theme of parks and portals.

The ultimate goal of the challenge was to provide students a unique way to engage with the education curriculum and learn valuable critical thinking and creativity skills.

On June 11, that effort for individual students, student groups, and even entire classrooms paid off in recognitions of excellence for their designs, as chosen by judges from the City of Calgary, Green Line, and members of the community.

“We’re just so thrilled by this because as you know, the first two seasons were done virtually. So, this is the first time in our entire scope of the project that we’ve been able to gather here and celebrate in person,” said Christopher Blaise, Teaching and Learning with Technology Specialist with the Calgary Board of Education.

“Over the course of three years, I can tell you, we’re 35,000 CBE students. Now also keep in mind though, that we had Catholic [School Division] participation over the course of this project, and Rockyview Schools is joining us here again this evening, so it’s much, much greater than 35,000 over that time period.”

Blaise said that students were drawing from math, science, design, and other curriculum lessons as part of their Level Up participation.

“We’ve got teachers stepping up, students coming together to share their voice, and what a great project in what a great city we live in,” Blaise said.

Winners created exciting visions for Calgary said judges

Nabeel Ramji, CEO of Pedesting, served as one of the judges for the Green Line portion of the challenge.

He said that it was a powerful thing to see students thinking about the spaces they were designing, and in a way that reflected the needs of everyday people and those with mobility challenges.

“Every year, the students get better and better, and I’m grateful to be a part of it. It’s amazing that someone can take something like Minecraft and create a world that opens up possibilities,” he said.

Ward 8 Councillor Courtney Walcott, who prior to being elected as a city councillor was a high school teacher, praised the design work that the students created because it represented a creative and great vision for Calgary.

“When I think about these locations, whether or not it’s the Green Line station or Haultain Park, these beautiful locations are made to become something more than what they are today,” Coun. Walcott said.

“Haultain Park is actually being reimagined right now. There’s a significant amount of work by other creators to turn that park into something else, and so while you’re here, creating a vision for it, someone else is creating a vision for it. There’s an exciting opportunity to see how they align right in the end. Same story for the Green Line station.”

He said that the one thing that students always do better than adults, is to step out of their comfort zones to be creative in unexpected ways.

“That’s what young people do.”

Finalist and winning entries will be available to be viewed in the Central Library throughout July, and all of the winning entries can be viewed at calgary.ca/levelup.