A person stands with a group of youth who are wearing the same grey t-shirts in a gym.

They probably could have heard the cheers at North Campus all the way in downtown Toronto – that’s how excited the youngsters were when NBA star and former Toronto Raptor Pascal Siakam walked in.

Siakam, who’s currently playing for the Indiana Pacers, hosted the Data Dunkers celebration event at Humber Polytechnic. Data Dunkers is an innovative basketball and data science learning experience for students in grades 5-12 where they learn foundational data science skills through basketball statistics in a fun and inclusive environment. Data Dunkers is supported by Siakam’s PS43 Foundation in partnership with Dell Technologies.

What started as a loud and lively affair with music pumping through the speakers got even louder when Siakam arrived with a big wave to the excited students. They cheered so loud it felt like the roof might blow off the gym.

Several people sit in chairs and are smiling while a person stands at a podium that has the Humber Polytechnic logo on it.

“Today isn’t about me – it’s about you,” Siakam told the students. “I’m so excited to be here and I made sure I came back to see you guys because I heard about the amazing work you’ve been doing. I’m really excited for you.”

Afterwards, each of the four Toronto schools in attendance sent up a couple of students to give a presentation on their data project and what they learned as part of it.

Isabelle Rivera and Jethro Cempron are the Grade 6 students at St. Thomas Moore Catholic School who were selected to give their school’s presentation.  

“It was an incredible experience, and we got to see data in a whole new way,” said Rivera.  

The Data Dunkers initiative serves as a launchpad for global competencies, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, and discovering career pathways within the realm of data science. Students engage in data analysis by first defining a question then collecting, cleaning and analyzing data, finishing with effectively communicating results.  

A group of people stand together and one is holding up a Pascal Siakam Indiana Pacers jersey.

Following the presentation, the students had a chance to ask Siakam a few questions – ranging from asking about his journey to the NBA to the proudest moment of his career, which he said was winning the NBA championship with the Raptors.

Siakam had some good advice when asked about the importance of education as a backup plan for those pursuing a career in professional sports, telling the students that education is incredibly important and will take them further than sport.

Find out more by visiting the Data Dunkers website.