Students, staff, faculty and classes from local elementary schools gathered at Durham College (DC) to celebrate Aboriginal Awareness Day on January 22. Sponsored by DC’s  Aboriginal Student Centre (ASC), Suswaaning Endaajig, the festivities included performances by the big drum and a women’s hand drum circle, an Inuit throat singer and a Métis fiddler, as well as storytelling.

“We are very proud to share Aboriginal culture with the campus and wider community,” said Julie Pigeon, Aboriginal student advisor for DC. “It’s a culture that is alive and well and hosting Aboriginal Awareness Day is a way to bring focus to the strong traditions that are carried on today by First Nations (status and non-status), Métis and Inuit peoples.”

Four classes from local elementary schools also attended in the morning and afternoon, participating in the opening prayer led by Elder Shirley Williams, dancing to the drums, and learning more about Aboriginal culture by visiting vendor and informational booths that lined the perimeter of the Campus Recreation and Wellness Centre.

The ASC strives to recognize and support students through various activities and teachings with the assistance of Elders from all backgrounds and uses a holistic approach to education serving Aboriginal students focusing on their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Durham College (DC) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology’s (UOIT) campus Holiday Food Drive committee has reported a record year in fundraising with $42,000 raised to create hampers and financial assistance packages to help 172 students and their families, including 218 children.

Staff, faculty, students and volunteers from DC and UOIT, in partnership with the Student Association and the Kinsmen Club of Oshawa, demonstrated a tremendous outpouring of help and generosity to support the annual tradition. Financial donations and non-perishable food items were collected during November and December and several fundraising events and initiatives were held on campus.

Korina Keays, who will graduate from DC’s Office Administration – Medical program this spring, told the Oshawa Express newspaper she learned about the campus Holiday Food Drive from a friend and was overjoyed with the support. Read more about Keays’ story.

“The Holiday Food Drive truly brings our entire community together to support our own,” said Kevin Dougherty, co-chair of the campus Holiday Food Drive.

Dougherty and Pat Vale-Dougherty have volunteered with the campus Holiday Food Drive for 15 years, and began co-chairing it in 2006.

Dougherty graduated from the Business Administration, Information Systems program in 1998 and is currently a professor with DC’s School of Business, IT & Management, while Vale-Dougherty graduated from Graphic Design in 1976 and is currently executive assistant to the dean of UOIT’s Faculty of Education.

As an employee of DC, Kevin was the recipient of the DC Faculty Award of Excellence for 2014; serves as the elected academic staff member on the DC Board of Governors (the Board); and serves as vice-chair of the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board. It is a little known fact that Pat originally began her time at UOIT in 2001, assisting with the DC project team to help prepare the plans for the new university.

Students of Durham College’s (DC) Occupational Therapist Assistant/Physiotherapist Assistant (OTA/PTA) program will experience an additional layer of hands-on learning by providing fine motor intervention to groups of children with fine motor delays, through the new DC Kids clinic. The clinic begins this month and is operating in partnership with Grandview Children’s Centre.

The DC Kids clinic will see students lead weekly treatment sessions under the direct supervision of an occupational therapist (OT), for children between the ages of four and 10 who may benefit from fine motor therapy.

“DC Kids gives OTA/PTA students an opportunity to give back to the community while learning at the same time,” said Dr. Judeline Innocent, RN and dean of the School of Health & Community Services. “It also allows our students to study under the mentorship of experienced occupational therapists so it’s truly a win-win scenario.”

The winter clinic will run Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturdays in the OTA/PTA lab at the Oshawa campus from Monday, January 12 to Saturday, March 21. Clients will attend one session per week for nine weeks. Sessions are available free of charge with a one-time registration fee of $30. 

DC Kids builds upon the knowledge gained in the classroom and lab where students learn to assist with the implementation of rehabilitation treatment plans and programs developed to promote clients’ independence, enhance activities of daily life and function, and support individuals whose physical ability has been impaired by injury, illness, aging, developmental disability or emotional disability.

Durham College (DC) offers more than 450 pathway to degree options for students including a pathway agreement with the Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI), a representative body for 13 institutes of technology in Ireland. The agreement provides an opportunity for graduates of specific two and three year Ontario college programs to earn an honours degree abroad, in some cases earning the degree with only one additional year of study.

Jessamyn Adams, a Durham College Accounting – Business Administration graduate, is one such student that has taken advantage of this unique opportunity as she completed a Bachelors of Business – Accounting and Finance at the Institute of Technology – Blanchardstown in Dublin, Ireland following her time at DC.

“When I read I could obtain my degree in only one further year of study rather than the two I would need in Ontario I thought I should at least apply,” said Adams. “ITB offered me the most generous exemptions for the diploma I had already completed and even though I had never been to Ireland I knew it as somewhere I wanted to explore and what better way than to live there.”

The pathways agreement with DC was developed between IOTI and College’s Ontario, an advocacy organization for Ontario’s 24 community colleges. The agreement primarily pertains to programs within the School of Business, IT & Management (BITM) and the School of Science & Engineering Technology (SET) offering students the chance to further their post-secondary education abroad while experiencing one of the world’s most dynamic and lively countries.

“My experience working with the Irish Institutes enabling students to further their education abroad has been excellent,” said Susan Todd, dean of SET. “Many Canadian students now have the opportunity to transfer their college credits to obtain a degree in a beautiful English speaking country, which will broaden their horizons both culturally and academically.”

Support abounds for students looking to take advantage of the pathway opportunity. “Start to finish they made my transition to Ireland so great,” said Adams. “Once I accepted, I was put in contact with an International Officer and he answered my incessant questions from everything to do with my courses to where I was going to live and how to get around.”

Students can visit the College’s Ontario website for background information on the agreement itself in addition to the IOTI website, which offers additional information on specific academic bridging requirements per program/institution.

With healthy living becoming an increasing priority among students and the local community, Durham College (DC) President Don Lovisa was pleased to host Rona Ambrose, Federal Minister of Health, as she visited the college’s Whitby campus on December 16.

The minister and some caucus colleagues joined Lovisa, Susan Sproul, retiring dean of the School of Health & Community Services (HCS), and Judeline Innocent, incoming dean for the School of HCS, for a discussion centring on the college’s range of clinical-focused health programs – from its newest program, Activation Coordination in Gerontology, to cornerstones including Dental Hygiene and Occupational Therapist Assistant/Physiotherapist Assistant (OTA/PTA) among others – over lunch at Bistro ’67 and the Centre for Food (CFF).

“In addition to learning more about our emphasis on practical learning opportunities across all our health programs, the health minister showed great interest in how we train our culinary students to prepare healthy meals and meet the demands of an ever-growing health-conscious food-service market,” said Lovisa. “It is always wonderful to be able to showcase the state-of-the-art facilities that Durham College has to offer, and Minister Ambrose was keenly interested in how our facilities provide students with hands-on experience as they work towards meaningful careers.”

The minister also learned about the two residential homes located at the Whitby campus that are used across multiple programs to give students hands-on, real-world experiences. One home was built circa 1950s and was moved to campus from a residential street in Oshawa, while the other was built purposefully for DC, offering a stark contrast between modern and more dated building codes and residential features.

When they initially opened, it was expected that the homes would serve students studying toward a number of different apprenticeships. In the time since, there have been opportunities to introduce other students as well, including those studying in the Personal Support Worker (PSW) and OTA/PTA programs. The homes provide students with direct exposure to dealing with clients in a home-based setting.

Ambrose joins a number of other leaders from all levels of government to visit Durham and other colleges across Ontario over the past few months. During the visits they are learning about the many benefits to students in pursuing a college education and how colleges are a solution to increased productivity and jobs for Ontario.

Full details on each of DC’s health-focused programs are available at www.durhamcollege.ca/academic-schools/school-of-health-community-services/.

Oral health is important, but unfortunately not everyone has access to dental hygiene and treatment. In an effort to help those in need, DC’s Dental Hygiene program partnered with Health Mission Outreach (HMO), an organization dedicated to providing services to those who are deprived of basic care due to politics, geographical terrain and other adversities, to offer free dental hygiene and treatment at a clinic in Toronto on November 22, combining course outcomes with community service.

“The phrase, ‘people will never forget how you made them feel,’ can be directly related to the Health Missions Outreach,” said Rachel Dods, a third-year Dental Hygiene student. “(We spent) a day helping others, and giving them the opportunity to access dental care that they normally would not have been able to access.”

Under the guidance of six Dental Hygiene faculty members, 42 third-year students donated their time to practise new skills learned in the classroom, screening more than 200 participants and providing treatment to 95 people who might have otherwise gone without.

“I want to thank our Dental Hygiene students, who did not flinch at any challenge presented to help those in need,” said Astrid Stolpmann, a professor with the School of Health & Community Services’ dental programs. “This clinic truly showed how the dental hygiene profession is an integral part of an inter-professional health-care collaborative in the community.”

The partnership with HMO drew upon the skills practiced by students at DC’s on-campus Dental Clinic, where Dental Hygiene and Dental Assisting students offer dental examinations and cleaning to clients over the age of four, under the supervision of teaching staff.

For more information on DC’s Dental Hygiene program, please visit www.durhamcollege.ca/dent.

Durham College (DC), in conjunction with The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), Fleming College and Trent University, shared today that the four organizations are working with Spark Centre and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster (GPIC), to launch the FastStart program (FastStart), a powerful new resource designed to help university and college students acquire entrepreneurial skills and convert innovative business ideas into successful companies.

FastStart is an entrepreneurial training partnership designed to increase the entrepreneurship skills and awareness of university and college students and help them develop solid business plans and take products to market. It is being funded through an $800,000 Government of Ontario grant being shared equally among all four post-secondary institutions under the province’s  $5 million On-Campus  Entrepreneurship Activities (OCEA) program, managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE).

“Fostering the entrepreneurial spirit among students is a key component of Ontario’s Youth Jobs Strategy, through programs that help transfer their ideas and skills to the marketplace while creating rewarding careers,” said Reza Moridi, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation, and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “By partnering with colleges and universities to support entrepreneurship, we are ensuring our province’s business leaders of tomorrow are getting the support they need to succeed today.”

FastStart features include:

• Available to students at all four institutions, in all fields of study, including youth in the community with an entrepreneurial spirit.
• Customized services to help participants refine their ideas, build teams and prepare solid business plans to deliver products to market.
• Programs such as boot camps and student incubators.
• Progressive, more focused programs to students with demonstrated interest and ability.
• Opportunities for students to transition through FastStart to the Spark Centre, GPIC or local business access development centres where they can access additional services to help them quickly advance and launch their businesses.

The OCEA program is part of Ontario’s Youth Jobs Strategy, which is seeing the province invest $295 million over two years to help 30,000 more youth from across the province connect with the tools, experiences and entrepreneurial support they need to find employment or start their own businesses.

“Ontario Centres of Excellence is pleased to be able to deliver this project as a trusted partner of the Government of Ontario,” said Dr. Tom Corr, president and chief executive officer, OCE. “I look forward to putting our years of experience in connecting academia and industry, and our ongoing support of young entrepreneurs to good use in making this initiative a tremendous success.”

Funded by the Government of Ontario, the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs (ONE) is Ontario’s innovation system. The ONE is made up of regional and sector focused organizations designed to help Ontario-based entrepreneurs rapidly grow their companies, and create jobs.

For more information visit www.oneinnovation.ca.

Faculty and students from Durham College’s (DC) Construction Carpentry – Sustainable program are excited to share the news that the first four families moved into their newly constructed homes at Centre Towne, a project in development with Habitat for Humanity in Oshawa, last week, just in time for the holidays.

DC and Habitat for Humanity have been working together since 2012 to build affordable housing for families in need within the community at 372 Centre St. S. in Oshawa. DC students have been on site from day one, with volunteer work being matched to course learning outcomes to benefit both students and the community.

“We were able to assist in framing with the first phase of construction, from the still plate, to the last piece of plywood on the roof,” said Don Fishley, professor and program co-ordinator for the Construction Carpentry – Sustainable program. “This past semester, our second-year students framed the garages on the front of the new six-plex building, and installed sheathing, SM board and Tyvex. We were also the crew that started the vinyl siding, soffit and fascia boards.”

The families were selected from a host of applicants who not only provided strong reasoning for their need but also committed approximately 500 hours of volunteer work in the construction of the homes.

With the first phase complete, Fishley, along with the college, looks forward to continue supporting Habitat for Humanity over the next four to five years as Centre Towne continues to grow.

Durham College’s (DC) Team Experience stopped by Toronto radio station 999 Virgin Radio and the Mad Dog & Maura morning show to help make the holidays a little brighter for Karley, a local mom-to-be, on December 2, in support of the station’s annual Make it Merry campaign.

Karley was nominated for Make it Merry by her friend, Mary, who submitted a list of much-needed items on behalf of her friend. In her letter, she described how Karley and her boyfriend are expecting their first child due in January, noting that money is tight. She is currently living in a basement that is under construction. “It’s basically a concrete floor and no walls. Cold,” said Mary.

“She’s doing the best she can though and would never ask for help,” she added. “She is the strongest person I know and has gone back to high school and passed with a 99 per cent average and trying to save a little here and there to go to college. She’s trying her best to get ahead but she has so many hurdles in her way.”

After hearing the story about this expectant mom’s needs and her dream of going to college, DC contacted the radio station to offer assistance. The Experience DC “elves” – Team Experience, a diverse group of amazing DC students who are sharing their college experience by offering authentic, real-time accounts of life at DC, from their own perspective, through social media and this website – arrived early in the morning in a van filled with everything from a crib, high chair, formula, clothes and diapers for the soon-to-arrive baby, to a dining room table and chairs for mom and dad.

In addition, Don Lovisa, president of DC, called into the station to give the gift of education by covering one year of tuition at DC for Karley.

“It is the season of giving and as a college, we value the importance of giving back to the community,” said Lovisa. “We’re happy to contribute this tuition and help someone in need.”

On-hand to help deliver the good news to the unsuspecting recipient were Team Experience members Heather and Matisse. For Heather this was an opportunity to help a fellow mom.

“I know first-hand what Karley is going through,” said Heather. “I am attending school full-time and am a mom to a young son. I know how life-changing an education can be, and while going back to school, especially as a new mom, can be scary, it’s also setting Karley and her new family up for success in the future.”

“I can’t even tell you how much this means to me and my future family,” said Karley. “Thank you so, so much. I’m very excited and very, very relieved. I was looking into business courses because I’m a manager right now. I’d like to look further into that, maybe some financial courses. I’m very excited for the opportunity to be able to (do that). I’m so grateful for everything. I never, in a million years, expected to have an opportunity like this.”

One hundred per cent of funds raised via Make it Merry go to families in need across the Greater Toronto Area.

As the winter season approaches, questions often arise from students, faculty and staff about Durham College (DC) remaining open or closed due to changes in the weather. As stated in the Emergency Closure procedure, “if there is no specific announcement about a closure, Durham College will remain open”, meaning during most days of the winter season, the campus remains open and all classes and activities will be held as scheduled.

To reduce this uncertainty, as of Tuesday, December 2 a campus status feature will be added to the top right corner of www.durhamcollege.ca. This indicator will advise students, faculty, staff and campus visitors of the current status of the Oshawa and Whitby campuses and the Pickering Learning Site at any given time.

If winter weather results in situations that affect the teaching or working environment (such as power outages) or situations that place members of the college community at risk, a red status alert bar containing messaging about the situation will appear throughout the Durham College website. 

Additionally, we have developed a campus status webpage that contains helpful links and information such as:

• DC’s emergency communications channels
• The inclement weather procedure
• What a closure means to me?
• Winter driving tips
• Links to public transit websites, the college’s social media accounts and a local weather report 

Watch a short video demonstrating this new feature on how we will communicate changes in the status of Durham College locations.

At all times, regardless of weather conditions, Durham College reminds you to allow for plenty of time to get to the campus, ensuring you drive with due caution and care, especially if you are in an area heavily affected by the weather.