Level Up Calgary Season 3: Parks & Portals celebrates students creativity and community engagement in Minecraft
After months of hard work, Level Up Calgary once again celebrated students’ creativity, community engagement and design skills using Minecraft Education.
The City of Calgary, in collaboration with Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Minecraft Education, announced winners of the 2024 Level Up Calgary Season 3: Parks & Portals competition Tuesday evening at the Central library. This competition provides a unique way for all grade students to grow their digital skills while preparing them to be future changemakers in a fun and creative way and inspiring the imaginations of young designers, planners and city-builders across our city.
This season, students from CBE and Rocky View Schools (RVS) of all grade levels embarked on a 10-week journey to shape two downtown areas in Minecraft: Haultain Park, located in the vibrant Beltline neighborhood, and the future underground 4th Street Station on the upcoming Green Line. Even the youngest learners had a special project at the Memorial Park Library.
From thousands of entries, 34 students were honoured during the inaugural in-person award ceremony. The event highlighted winning Minecraft designs, for their exceptional ability to create vibrant, sustainable public spaces that celebrate diversity, promote equity and foster unity among Calgarians. These designs also successfully demonstrated purposeful advancement to the city’s economic, social and/or climate resilience. For those who were unable to attend the event, a recording of the livestream can be accessed here.
Finalist entries will be showcased at the Calgary Central Library throughout the month of July, and the winning builds will be available for viewing on calgary.ca/levelup.
This year’s panel of judges included experts from City Parks & Open Spaces, Urban Planning, Green Line and community representatives, who brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the evaluation process.
Mayor Jyoti Gondek expressed her pride and heartfelt congratulations to the winning students and schools, “Congratulations to our winners and all participants in another successful season of Level Up! I continue to be amazed by the creativity and passion in shaping the future of our city. Their designs truly embody the spirit of a connected, diverse and resilient Calgary. I’d also like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the judges for their dedication, time and feedback.”
Mike Nelson, CBE Superintendent of School Improvement also expressed his enthusiasm, “Today we celebrate the innovative designs and creative solutions of our students. Seeing students harness the power of Minecraft Education to design real-world public spaces is remarkable. Congratulations to this season’s winners and thank you to everyone involved in making Level Up Calgary Season 3 possible.”
"We are proud of the accomplishments of every RVS student who participated in the latest season of Level Up Calgary," said RVS Superintendent of Schools, Greg Luterbach. "This design challenge meets students in a digital space many of them already use, and enables them to use their creativity skills to learn while having fun."
Level Up Calgary, Canada’s pioneering game-based learning platform, was initially launched in 2022. Over the course of three seasons, the program has positively impacted the learning of over 35,000 CBE students, facilitating conversations on civic responsibility and creating safe, welcoming spaces for all Calgarians. As North America’s first program of its kind, it has inspired similar initiatives in cities like Los Angeles, London, New York, Winnipeg, Buenos Aires and Toronto.
Visit calgary.ca/levelup to learn more and follow the conversation on social media using the hashtag #LevelUp.