UCalgary students taking on society’s ‘big’ challenges

Guirlene Joseph says the trend is hard to ignore: youth are among the most targeted consumers in a rapidly evolving economy, yet often the least prepared to navigate it.

Social media shoppertainment, gamblification in video games and “buy now, pay later” options – they have all been designed to capture attention and drive spending, says Joseph, executive director of The Dollar Detectives Society, a Calgary-based non-profit delivering experiential financial education for youth aged 12–30.

What’s missing is the foundation to make sense of it all.

“One of the main challenges is that young people are constantly being pulled in by consumer messaging, yet they also lack clear access to reliable information,” says Joseph.

A group of students at the University of Calgary is working to help change that.

Enactus UCalgary, a student-led organization tackling societal challenges through entrepreneurship, is developing a gamified financial literacy platform to help close a key education gap for youth.

WealthPath is described as "Duolingo for financial literacy,” where youth can build practical money skills through short, interactive programs.

“The idea is to deliver financial lessons in an engaging manner,” says Enactus UCalgary co-president Ayushi Choudhary, who is in her fourth year at the Haskayne School of Business, studying business analytics and data science.

Learning through play

The WealthPath platform is built around a five-module system, with topics ranging from how to budget and understanding credit to filing taxes and building portfolios. 

It utilizes a mix of educational videos and interactive quizzes; and instead of relying solely on multiple-choice answers, the system prompts students to explain financial concepts — such as the difference between a need and a want — in their own natural language. The platform then uses artificial intelligence to analyze these responses to determine how well the student has articulated the learning objective.

The research and curriculum materials were handmade by the student team, who also hand-drew the visuals and edited the videos themselves

To ensure the accuracy and reliability of the financial advice provided, the curriculum was audited by employees from ATB Financial

“We really think … this is a startup that could potentially scale,” says Choudhary, noting project secured third place in the Youth Empowerment category at the Enactus 2026 Regional Finals in Vancouver.

WealthPath is already demonstrating a real-world impact. The team has taught financial literacy to more than 120 students in rural Alberta and tested the platform with approximately 140 students in total.

More recently, the team has signed memorandum of understanding with a partner willing to pay $3 per student to utilize the platform. 

That partner? The Dollar Detectives.

“We believe Enactus WealthPath offers an innovative approach to financial literacy, essential to engaging young people in a way that resonates with them,” says Joseph.

“Their self-guided, virtual experience aligns with The Dollar Detectives' youth programs, providing an additional way to easily learn and reinforce personal finance concepts. 

“Financial literacy is a critical life skill and WealthPath brings a non-traditional pathway for youth to enhance real-world understanding.”

Real-world ‘swimming’

WealthPath represents one of six projects currently being led by Enactus UCalgary that range from supporting women entrepreneurs as they scale their business to an Indigenous-led social venture that uses technology to preserve traditional cultural knowledge in urban environments.

Co-president Crystal Kisakye, who is currently studying finance and actuarial science at Haskayne, describes the group as a platform where any student can build projects aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, receiving support through advisors and funding. 

It is part of the broader Enactus network, a global non-profit organization made up of more than 72,000 students who are using the power of entrepreneurial action to enact positive change.

“Enactus throws you into the real world and then helps you learn how to swim,” says Kisakye, pointing to how Enactus distinguishes itself from other clubs by emphasizing real-world application over theoretical skill-building. 

Kisakye points to Paragon, another program the group recently kickstarted that aims to create a software platform that predicts lightning-caused wildfires. The platform would analyze data points such as soil moisture, weather and fuel conditions to create a colour-coded risk grid that helps firefighters pre-position resources. 

To improve accuracy, the UCalgary team also plans to integrate drone technology to collect real-time data from high-risk forest areas.

The group has already been working with officials from Alberta Wildfire. The project also recently earned first place in its category at the Enactus 2026 Regional Finals.

“Once Paragon is adopted by our right stakeholders, then that impact could be insanely massive. If you think about it, entire communities could be saved because firefighters were get to there much quicker,” says Kisakye.

Learn more about Enactus at enactusucalgary.ca.