VANCOUVER, CANADA — Building on the momentum of its inaugural year, Ascend 2025 returned to the UBC Sauder School of Business with a significant increase in scale, welcoming more than 400 high school students, up from 250 attendees in its first year. Organized by Prosper Foundation, the expanded conference reflected growing demand for high-quality, learning-focused case competition experiences designed specifically for high school students.

The growth from 250 to 400 participants marked a major milestone for Ascend, positioning it as one of the largest youth case competitions in the Lower Mainland. Despite the expansion, Ascend 2025 maintained its core commitment to accessibility and skill development through its two-stream competition model — Novice and Advanced — ensuring that students of all experience levels could compete in an environment tailored to their abilities.

Throughout the day, attendees engaged in a comprehensive program of interactive workshops designed to support students’ personal, academic, and professional development. Sessions focused on post-secondary pathways, entrepreneurship, personal branding, networking, and foundational case competition skills, ensuring that participants of all experience levels could gain practical insights and confidence beyond the competition itself.

The Novice Competition Stream provided first-time competitors with a structured introduction to case competitions. Guided by instructional sessions led by Prosper Academy, students learned how to break down a case, organize analysis, and communicate ideas effectively through presentations. Live walkthroughs of prior cases helped participants apply concepts in real time. The top Novice team was awarded a $500 cash prize.

The Advanced Competition Stream challenged experienced participants through targeted bootcamps focused on strategic thinking, executive communication, and presentation refinement. By competing alongside peers with similar backgrounds, students were pushed to elevate both analytical rigor and delivery. The winning Advanced team received a $750 cash prize.

Beyond competition results, Ascend 2025 emphasized learning, feedback, and collaboration as core outcomes of the event. By combining hands-on case solving with guided instruction and evaluation, Ascend aimed to develop transferable skills — including critical thinking, teamwork, and professional communication — that extend beyond the classroom.

In addition to prizes and recognition, Ascend 2025 offered a direct pathway to future opportunities within Prosper Foundation’s conference ecosystem. The top three teams in both the Novice and Advanced Competition Streams earned qualification for the 2026 Prosper Ivey Invitational Competition (PIIC). This advancement reinforced Ascend’s role not only as a standalone competition, but also as a meaningful stepping stone within a broader, year-long development pathway for high-performing students.

The jump from 250 to 400 attendees underscores Ascend’s rapid growth and increasing impact within the region’s youth business education landscape. As a case competition built from the ground up for high school students, Ascend 2025 demonstrates how thoughtfully designed programming can scale while preserving educational quality and meaningful participant engagement.