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DC Journalism students put learning to work, gain real-work experience creating COVID-cation podcast

Faced with COVID-19-related cancellations and postponements of their field placements, six Durham College Journalism – Mass Media students decided to create their own real-work experience.

The result is COVID-cation, a weekly podcast created by students for students. Each episode focuses on a specific theme – from education to emotional wellbeing to finances – while exploring the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on students of all ages. Working under the supervision of their professor, Danielle Harder, the team oversees all aspects of development, production and deployment of the podcast and supporting materials, allowing them to put their classroom learning to the ultimate test.

In addition to honing their story development and audio and video skills, the students are gaining valuable real-work experience and content for their portfolios in the areas of on-air hosting, social media management, website development, online publishing and much more by doing journalism work on multiple platforms.

Watch the Global News Durham story profiling the students behind COVID-cation.

DC puts 3D printers into action making PPE for donation to workers on frontline of COVID-19

Working out of their garages and basements, Durham College (DC) students, employees, alumni and community members are using 3D printers to create the frames for face shields used by the healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative launched on March 26 and within 48 hours the first donation of personal protective equipment (PPE) built with the college’s 3D-printed parts were delivered to Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg, Ontario.

“Ontario PPE manufacturer InkSmith put out a call for support to the 3D printing community and Durham College immediately answered that call,” said Chris Daniel, a professor with the college’s School of Science & Engineering Technology. “Six of DC’s 3D printers are now relocated to my garage and a group of our Mechanical Engineering Technology students and alumni who have their own 3D printers are on board with this initiative and printing furiously too.”

There are currently 20 DC community members using 30 rapid prototyping machines across Durham Region to create the face shield frames. With community outreach being led by DC’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the college is currently working with two partners to see the parts put to use:

  • DC is shipping frames to InkSmith, where the parts are used to create the company’s community shield, a sanitized single-use shield which InkSmith is donating quantities of to underfunded hospitals and healthcare providers.
  • The college is also collaborating with a team from Ontario Tech University that is also creating one-time-use face shields for donation to local healthcare teams.

“I am always proud to count myself among DC’s more than 90,000 alumni but it’s in moments like this that I’m grateful to be part of a community that is so committed to supporting our greater community, especially the brave men and women who are working tirelessly on the healthcare frontline,” said alumnus Brent Lessard, who is currently using his 3D printer at home to contribute to the college’s face shield frame production. Lessard also sits on the DC Alumni Association board of directors.

On March 28, Chris Daniel launched a GoFundMe page with a goal of raising $1,000 to purchase more polylactic acid, or PLA, the printing material used to 3D print the face shield frames. In less than a day, more than $8,000 was donated, 100-per-cent of which will be used to purchase more PLA for the DC project and to purchase more face shields from InkSmith that will also be donated to healthcare providers.

Chris Daniel is a professor in the Mechanical Engineering Technology program at DC as well as a faculty advisor with the college’s FastStart entrepreneurship team. Two of the 3D printers he is currently using to create PPE parts are on loan from DC's 360insights Entrepreneurship Centre, located at the Oshawa campus. He is joined by the following team members who are also working from home to print the parts:

Students
Marlon Alleyne
Paul Burgess
Jonathan Cusack Striepe
Rumedh Cyril
Shane DeSilva
Andrew Kay
Kyle Laughton
Adeshpal Singh

Alumni
Donald and Sarah Bark
Ankit Bhat
Brent Lessard
Harshit Patel
Mitchell Russell
Blake Smith

Employees
Chris Daniel 

Community members
Jane and Todd Ferguson
James and Debbie Fraser
Nora and Jeff Stevens
Jaydev Chauhan

EnactusDC embarks on first international project

EnactusDC is celebrating the launch of its first international project, Project G.R.O.W.(Generating Real Opportunities Worldwide), and a fantastic first trip to South Africa!

EnactusDC is the Durham College (DC) chapter of Enactus, an international organization of student entrepreneurs who develop businesses that make positive social, economic or environmental impacts in their local communities or internationally. The EnactusDC team is a part of the FastStart SHIFT program at the college, a business start-up accelerator designed for social enterprises.

Project G.R.O.W. is one of the team’s six active projects for 2020 and the first to introduce impactful international work into the mix. It is a welcome addition to EnactusDC’s 2020 competitive project roster, which also includes Girls EnPower, True Grit, Money Makes Cents, M03 Solutions and 3eehive.

During the college’s winter break, EnactusDC team leaders traveled to rural community schools in South Africa’s central region, known as Midrand, where they performed a formal needs assessment for a new food literacy and education-based garden project. Project G.R.O.W. is working with Canadian partner Rainbow Plate to design custom curricula around an experiential learning-based garden project for South African students, ages 0 to 5. The team will work with teachers at participating disadvantaged schools to implement curricula, build gardens and provide an entrepreneurial training opportunity to generate income through sales of the surplus garden yield.

The project is led by three students from DC’s Marketing – Business program: Chin-Ting Sherwin, Jonathan Bayne and Christian Lopers. These students forged a fantastic connection with their in-country host, celebrated DC alumna Cailey Hart. Since graduating from DC’s Early Childhood Education program in 2010, Cailey has become the principal of Botshabelo Urban Kids Educentre in South Africa.

The students were joined by EnactusDC faculty advisor Chris Daniel, a professor with DC’s school of Science & Engineering Technology.

“It was amazing to watch the impact that Durham College’s ECE teaching methodologies have had on increasing the skills of the local urban and rural preschool teachers around Midrand, South Africa,” says Chris.  “It’s a true credit to Cailey’s leadership and since she has clearly shown great success at helping her colleague replicate her skill set, I’m confident that her ability to manage the creation and duplication of a garden and the Rainbow Plate nutrition methodology throughout the region will be successful as well.”

Team member Chin-Ting Sherwin adds, “Being able to visit communities in South Africa has been a life-changing experience. The warm welcome from the people within the schools and the overall lifestyle have opened my eyes to how happiness comes in many forms. This opportunity has changed my perspective and was unforgettable.”

Cailey Hart hosted the EnactusDC team onsite at her school and introduced members to several rural schools in disadvantaged areas, which are to become the focus of the project work. In addition to their gratitude to Cailey, EnactusDC is thankful to the college for its ongoing support, the DC Alumni Association, DC Students Inc. and DC’s International Office for helping make this new initiative possible.

DC culinary students compete in Student Chef Challenge 2020

On Thursday, February 27, three Durham College (DC) Culinary Management students competed in the Student Chef Challenge 2020 against five teams from post-secondary institutions across Ontario at the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food in Whitby.

Organized and sponsored by Ontario Sheep Farmers, Mushrooms Canada and DC, the annual competition aimed to showcase the complementary flavours of Ontario mushrooms and lamb while testing students on their skills and knowledge in butchering, recipe development, cooking and food presentation.  

DC’s team included second-year students Amira Cunha and Soo Hea Woo and first-year student Ethan Tate, alongside faculty mentors Dave Hawey and Josh Heuvelmans, professors in the School of Hospitality and Horticultural Science. In the morning, the team was tasked with butchering a lamb into specific retail cuts. They then used the protein to develop a recipe and cook three separate, original dishes that incorporated Canadian mushrooms and Ontario lamb. A reception took place later in the day, and key members of the culinary and DC community attended to taste samples of the final recipe in the competition.

Student dishes were judged by a team of industry professionals from organizations, including Foodland Ontario, Ontario Sheep Farmers, Gordon Food Service, Restaurants Canada, and Windmill Farms. The butchery portion of the event was judged by Nicholas Matusiak from Halenda’s Meats.

Although DC’s team did not place, it was a close race and the experience for students went above and beyond regular classroom learning, giving them the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from judges and begin building a name for themselves in the industry.

After the event, more than 200 lbs of raw lamb, provided by Ontario Lamb Company and Ontario Sheep Farmers, was frozen and donated to Feed the Need Durham.

Dragons’ Den auditions return to DC Wednesday, March 11

Calling all entrepreneurs! The hit CBC television show Dragons’ Den will return to Durham College (DC) on Wednesday, March 11, to hold auditions in the search for Canada’s best new businesses.

The show’s producers are embarking on a nation-wide tour in search of the country’s best new business concepts and products in need of a Dragon investment. During its stop on campus, aspiring DC entrepreneurs and members of the general public are invited to pitch their concepts in five minutes or less. If they show producers they have what it takes to pitch in the Den, they could be invited to Toronto to face the Dragons.

DC is committed to enhancing entrepreneurship in the community and encourages anyone with an innovative idea to apply. DC students may also contact FastStart – an entrepreneurial training partnership aimed at students – for assistance in preparing their pitch.

Prospective pitchers are encouraged to apply online and bring a completed application form to the audition.

Auditions:

When

Wednesday, March 11
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Where
Durham College, Oshawa campus
Student Services building, Room SSB 116 AB
2000 Simcoe St. N.
Oshawa, Ont. 

 

 

DC students test their skills and collaborate in emergency simulation

On February 29, 195 Durham College (DC) students, faculty and industry partners collaborated on an intense, large-scale emergency simulation exercise at the Oshawa campus that let students put their classroom and lab training into action.

Bringing together participants from the schools of Justice & Emergency Services, Health & Community Services and Media, Art & Design, as well as peers from Ontario Tech University’s nursing program, the exercise followed a detailed script that saw volunteers simulate a mass-casualty emergency stemming from a sports-racing situation.

Unfolding in real-time, the exercise provided students with valuable experiential learning as well as a better understanding of how members of emergency services, health and social services, legal services and the media work together during an emergency. A second simulation exercise focused on mock legal proceedings in connection with the emergency will be held Saturday, March 7.

Students from the following DC programs participated:

FastStartDC and Ownr are helping students incorporate their businesses quickly, simply and affordably

FastStartDC is pleased to be collaborating with Ownr to bring student entrepreneurs amazing support and great discounts on the cost of business registration and incorporation in 2020.

Business registration is often a pain point for our FastStartDC students, particularly for those unfamiliar with the required government forms. Registration can be an intimidating, not-so-sexy process and if business incorporation is in a student’s plan, it becomes even more complicated and certainly more expensive.

Thanks to Ownr, registering a business is now simple, quick and affordable for DC student entrepreneurs, allowing them to register their business in a few easy steps and for a fraction of what they would pay a lawyer. A more streamlined registration process means students can relax about this part of their start-up journey and focus their energy on building their business.

Through this new partnership, students who are officially participating in the FastStartDC program will receive a promo code for a $60 discount off Ownr’s business registration and incorporation services.

Visit the partner page.

FastStartDC is proud to have a strong network of partners who are leaders in the entrepreneurial arena to support the success of our student entrepreneurs.

FastStartDC’s Fireside Chats help the campus community cozy up to entrepreneurship

Durham College (DC) students, employees and community members are invited to learn more about entrepreneurship through FastStartDC’s Fireside Chats speaker series. Hosted each month in DC’s 360insights Entrepreneurship Centre, each talk is led by an alumni, industry expert or local business leader, and covers a diverse variety of topics related to self-confidence, team building, financial literacy and social entrepreneurship.

Students will have the opportunity to hear a unique presentation from Elson Yeung on Wednesday, February 19. As a mentor, fashion designer and brand consultant, his talk will dive into managing the art and science of business, and how individuals can balance the use of creativity and data to successfully connect innovation and build business objectives. Elson will also provide students interested in both fashion and business with insight into the entrepreneurial design industry, including how to launch an apparel business or build a brand.

During the next scheduled Fireside Chat on Wednesday, March 18, culture curator Travis Dutka will speak about the act of fostering an engaging, inclusive and collaborative team culture for employees, drawing on his own experience working at 360insights.

For more information on upcoming Fireside Chats, be sure to visit FastStartDC’s Eventbrite page or Facebook page. FastStartDC is an extra-curricular entrepreneurship program. Housed within DC’s 360insights Entrepreneurship Centre in the Centre for Collaborative Education, it offers DC students access to entrepreneurial services and training programs.

Durham College launches Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation

Durham College (DC) is responding to the ever-changing and complex threat landscape of cyberattacks, including data breaches and service disruptions and misdirections, with the launch of the Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation. The launch of the college’s fourth applied research centre was announced at an event this morning.

“Cybersecurity is an increasingly significant risk to business, no matter what size or scale, and very few are prepared to respond or equipped with the proactive knowledge of how to protect themselves,” said Don Lovisa, president, DC. “The Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation is our solution for business and industry to help build capacity and the systems they need to protect their interests.”

The centre is designed to be a collaborative enterprise between DC’s Office of Research Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ORSIE), Centre for Professional and Part-time Learning and School of Business, IT & Management.

Services will include:

  • Applied research in cybersecurity with acute focus on technologies for cyber range deployments, threat intelligence, anomaly detection and incident management.
  • Micro-credentials that provide training in industry-accredited programs at various levels. These flexible part-time programs and courses will appeal to individuals seeking development opportunities to advance or change their careers.
  • A Cybersecurity graduate certificate program that prepares aspiring cybersecurity professionals to work in the industry.
  • Conferences and seminars held in collaboration with corporate partners and high-profile industry experts to increase public awareness.

A number of industry leaders attended the launch event and participated in a panel discussion, speaking to the need for the Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation and the positive impact it will have on their industry. Speakers included:

  • Farooq Naiyer, chief information security officer, ORION
  • Ishwinder Cheema, manager, Technical Account Management, Zscaler
  • Jeff Dawley, founder, Cybersecurity Compliance Corp
  • Ted de Vos, president, SIMNET
  • Heather Ricciuto, Academic Outreach Leader, IBM Security

“With ORSIE celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2020, I can think of no better way to kick off this milestone year than with the launch of DC’s fourth applied research centre,” said Debbie McKee Demczyk, dean, ORSIE. “DC is an established leader in innovative applied research and the Centre for Cybersecurity Innovation is a natural complement to our AI Hub, Centre for Craft Brewing Innovation and Mixed Reality Capture Studio.”

“The college’s applied research centres embody the vision of our extraordinary employees,” said Lovisa. “It is through their expertise and dedication that DC is leading the way in supporting, transforming and advancing economic prosperity in Durham Region and beyond.”

For more information visit www.durhamcollege.ca/CentreForCybersecurityInnovation.

Two weeks of career-focused activities and job fairs help students gear up to get hired

As convocation nears, Durham College (DC) students are preparing to launch their careers. To assist them in their journey from campus to career, DC’s Career Development office organized two weeks of career-focused fun at the college’s Gear Up to Get Hired events and connected more than 2,000 students with employers at two Winter Job Fairs earlier this month.

Taking place from January 29 to February 6, students had access to job fairs at the college’s Oshawa and Whitby campuses, as well as various workshops and sessions, including how to create a personal pitch, resumé writing techniques, job fair success strategies, using LinkedIn and more.

This year, the annual day-long Job Fair at the Oshawa campus brought in 77 potential employers for students and alumni to meet, including those currently hiring for full-time, part-time, co-op, summer and seasonal work. Held on February 4 in the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre, organizations represented a mix of economic sectors, including business, community services, manufacturing, skilled trades, information technology, engineering, health care, hospitality and justice. Students also had access to the Ten Thousand Coffees mentoring lounge, where alumni offered career advice and networking practice.

Prior to the Whitby campus Job Fair on February 6, students had the opportunity to attend DC Talks: Alumni Series to hear from two recent grads who have found success in their field, and a Women in Trades panel discussion. During the fair, which brought in 40 employers, students connected with businesses specifically recruiting for positions related to programs operating out of the Whitby campus, such as skilled trades, hospitality, administration and more.

DC’s Career Development office provides support for all things career-related at the college. The Career Development team offers a range of services including support for career exploration, resumé building and cover letter writing, interviewing skills and job search strategies.

For more information visit www.durhamcollege.ca/careerdevelopment.