A partnership between The Rotary Club of Whitby, The Rotary Club of Whitby Sunrise and Durham College (DC) – facilitated by snapd Whitby – has opened doors for journalism students to gain hands-on experience while sharing stories about the great work local agencies are doing for the community.

After joining the Rotary Club several years ago, Danielle Harder, journalism professor at DC, formed a public relations committee with fellow Rotarian and former long-time director of sales and marketing at Hertz Rent-A-Car, Geno Diraddo. She began writing monthly features for snapd in hopes of extending the Rotary Club’s awareness in the community and furthering the reach of their fundraising efforts.

Recognizing an opportunity to benefit both the community and DC journalism students, the Rotary Clubs began compiling a yearly list of stories they wished to highlight. Harder then assigns the stories to her students, helping them to find contacts and gain experience through the writing process.

“Writing for snapd gives many students their first byline outside of The Chronicle, DC’s student-run newspaper,” said Danielle Harder, professor of the Journalism – Web and Print and Journalism – Broadcast and Electronic Media programs. “It gives them the opportunity to strengthen their portfolio which means they are better prepared for the job market and it allows them to develop real world connections before they even graduate.”

This agreement between the Rotary Clubs, snapd – both located in Whitby, Ont., and DC has been ongoing providing numerous students with valuable hands-on experience and even presenting a former DC journalism student the opportunity to attend a Rotary youth leadership event.

Durham College’s (DC) Communicative Disorders Assistant (CDA) graduate certificate program has once again received a generous $2,500 donation, as well as a serenade from The Oshawa Horseless Carriagemen, on behalf of the Barbershop Harmony Society’s Harmonize for Speech fund.

Items purchased using the annual donation include The Baby Signing Book, authored by former CDA professor Sara Bingham and received by all students in the program; a GoTalk 9+ portable, programmable communication device, used to teach young children to communicate using a customizable picture overlay, which students will learn to program and use when working with clients. A one-day workshop for the students was also sponsored using the donation funds; this year’s speaker will be Debra Goshulak from The Speech and Stuttering Institute to speak about motor speech disorders and therapy in preschool children.

“This donation has and continues to help in providing our students with additional learning opportunities and materials while in the program,” said Sherry Hinman, professor and interim program coordinator of the CDA program. “The items we are able to purchase using the donation allow current, as well as future students the opportunity to excel during their time at the college and succeed in the field following their graduation.”

The CDA program is a one-year, three-semester graduate certificate program that prepares students for work, under the guidance of qualified speech-language pathologists and/or audiologists, providing speech and language therapy to children and adults.

The Harmonize for Speech fund was established nearly 40 years ago as a fundraising project of the Barbershop Harmony Society and continues to provide support for various organizations and projects. This is the tenth year the Barbershop Harmony Society has supported the growth and success of the CDA program, but the first year the students were lucky enough to receive a barbershop-style performance.

TripAdvisor, the largest travel website in the world, honoured Durham College’s (DC’s) Bistro ’67 with a Certificate of Excellence recently. This achievement was a result of the consistently high reviews the restaurant receives on the travel website. With a 101 reviews to date, Bistro ’67 is ranked as the second-most popular restaurant in Whitby, Ont., out of 235. The restaurant also proudly maintains a four-and-a-half out of five star rating.

More than 90 per cent of reviews on the website feature positive comments, complimenting everything from the food, the wait staff, to the field-to-fork philosophy. Bistro ’67 is truly a one-of-a-kind in Durham Region.

The restaurant features an open concept with modern design. The menu is constantly changing, keeping up with homegrown ingredients from across the Durham Region to bring fresh and inspiring dishes to the table. As an added bonus, a television is featured in the dining area, allowing patrons to watch as DC’s skilled culinary students carefully prepare diners’ selections.

Bistro ’67 lives within DC’s Centre for Food (CFF), Durham Region’s first-ever post-secondary presence focused on the field-to-fork concept. This process is based on the harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sale and consumption of local, home-grown food. Since the CFF opened, DC has taken this concept and applied it to a diverse range of culinary and hospitality programs.

CFF recently announced the renewal of its partnership with celebrity chef Jamie Kennedy. Kennedy is a pioneer in farm-to-field practices and has helped students in various programs at the CFF since 2012. With this commitment, he will interact with students in the classroom, labs and fields; work with employees; and participate in student-run special events.

To learn more about Bistro ’67, including menu, pricing or booking reservations, visit www.bistro67.ca. To read excellent reviews about the restaurant, visit the Bistro ’67 page on TripAdvisor.

Anna Chase, a third-year student in Durham College (DC)’s Graphic Design program, has made her mark on Oshawa’s downtown core with her art piece “The Games”. Featured on the crosswalk at the intersections of Athol and Mary Street and Athol and Albert Street, Chase’s art piece was selected during a Call for Artwork, as part of the City of Oshawa’s Public Art Program.

Created with the theme of Pan American culture, sport, teamwork and collaboration in mind, Chase designed an illustration of a boxer and weightlifter in poses representing strength and athleticism.

“I’m thrilled to have my work showcased for everyone to see as they attend the Pan Am games,” said Chase. “It’s great to have this kind of exposure and another piece to add to my portfolio as I enter my final year at DC.”

The piece is located at the intersections connected to the General Motors (GM) Centre, which will be hosting both the boxing and weightlifting events during the games.

Once again students in Durham College’s (DC) School-College-Work Initiative (SCWI) have achieved academic excellence. The most recent term saw a success rate of 90 per cent, a four per cent increase over last year for the more than 1300 secondary school students who completed a dual-credit program with DC.

“It was another outstanding year for our School-College-Work Initiative students,” said Don Lovisa, president, Durham College. “The opportunity to complete college credits while also working towards their Ontario Secondary School Diploma sets students up for success. This year’s results demonstrate what happens when great educators come together and students show a passion for learning.”

The SCWI program focuses on helping at-risk secondary school students receive their diploma while completing college credits at the same time. Dual credit courses are a great choice for students who are at risk of not graduating; enrolled in a Specialist High Skills Major; enrolled in an Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program; or are under 21 years old and out of school, but close to earning their OSSD.

More than 100 dual credit courses are offered at DC on a variety of subjects, including but not limited to, skilled trades, apprenticeship, health, art, science and business. Students from secondary schools in the Durham Catholic District School Board; Durham District School Board; Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board; Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board; and Trillium Lakelands District School Board are eligible to participate.

“This initiative has one of the highest success rates among students I’ve ever seen,” said Gail MacKenzie, manager, Strategic Initiatives, School of Interdisciplinary Studies. “The dual credit program allows students to achieve their potential and really motivates students to achieve their best.”

For more information regarding the dual credit program, visit the DC Centre for Success website or contact the School-College-Work Initiative coordinator.

Building on a long-standing partnership of offering pathway programs to assist students in making the transition from diploma to degree, Durham College (DC) and Trent University have signed a new agreement that will fast-track students to a college diploma in Journalism and a university degree in Media Studies in only a four-year timeframe.

The new pathways program agreement was signed July 8, 2015 at Trent University Durham by Don Lovisa, president of Durham College and Dr. Leo Groarke, Trent University president and vice-chancellor. It will allow graduates of DC’s two-year Journalism – Web and Print and Journalism – Broadcast and Electronic Media programs to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Studies at Trent University in Peterborough or at Trent University Durham, where the Media Studies degree is being offered for the first time in fall 2015.

“This is another example of our progressive and long-standing partnership with Trent University,” said President Lovisa. “Developing new pathway programs for our students ensures they get the best of both a college and university education – technical, professional and theoretical training along the way to earning a diploma and degree. That means when they graduate they are better-positioned with employers and for finding professional success.”

This agreement marks the first partnership between Trent and DC’s School of Media, Art and Design. There are now more than 14 diploma-to-degree pathways in place between DC and Trent University, providing degree completion opportunities for graduates of the college’s business, General Arts and Science, computing, Environmental Technology, Police Foundations and Pharmaceutical and Food Science Technology programs. The two institutions are also currently working on two additional pathways from the School of Media, Art and Design at DC into Media Studies at Trent University, to be finalized in fall 2015.