Joy Xu is the founder and CEO of STREAM Syndicate, a charity which promotes educational accessibility for students across Canada through interdisciplinary learning in tech. STREAM is virtually accessible through the Student Opportunity Platform which serves as a virtual community to over 10,000 students engaging in more than 200 opportunities every month.

Since 2018, STREAM has impacted over 125,000 students through major interprovincial initiatives, campaigns, events, exhibits, and talks revolving around STEM, arts, and humanities. STREAM is also one of the first fully student-run organisations with two permanent office buildings for provincial and national board meetings.

Currently, STREAM is also developing Felicity, a productivity mobile and web application with open access to the public to improve their vocational endeavours through psychological interventions.

STREAM syndicate website

Q&A

What do you/your organisation hope to achieve after your success in the Innovation Awards?

“Joy aspires to continue advocating for educational accessibility, including the alleviation of technological disparities ensuing the pandemic. In the future, she hopes to instill a tangible framework for student productivity through the Felicity app which integrates in-depth psychological research and critical appraisal from experts across the world. Post-COVID-19, Joy looks forward to expanding into two permanent office units in partnership with the OneHub Development Centre to provide physical meeting spaces for the student community.”

What are the biggest challenges you are facing to nurture and expand your innovation and its impact?

“Often times, a major challenge in improving educational accessibility lies in the diverse definitions that students prescribe towards education and their respective needs. Education is a multifaceted industry where accessibility not only encompasses those who cannot access typical classroom academics. Rather, this also includes students without access to practical educational insights necessary to guide major occupational decisions or support their workplace experience. Hence, educational accessibility can be complex in its delivery across the student community.”