Kevin Fraser, a professor with Durham College’s (DC) School of Media, Art & Design (MAD), recently won the Making A Difference Award (MADA) for his documentary film, Living As Brothers, at the 2013 Toronto Global Community Film Festival (COMMFFEST). Fraser’s film has also been selected as one of only 29 films to be screened around the world as a representative of the Africa World Documentary Film Festival (AWDFF).

The feature-length documentary delves into the lives of Jamaican migrant workers making the long journey to labour in the fruit orchards of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Most of these men are skilled workers such as mechanics, electricians and farmers but because of poor employment situations in Jamaica, the migrant work in Canada becomes the only plausible option to support their large families. Several of the men have turned this into an annual means of employment having made the trip for more than 20 years, spending up to nine months of the year away from their families.

“I grew up in Niagara and worked on the farm where I filmed over a summer and returned 20 years later to find some of the same men still working there,” said Fraser. “When I shared this experience with friends in Toronto, I was surprised to find so few people knew Canada brings in thousands of migrant workers each year, mostly to do work that we are not willing to do ourselves  and that began the film for me.”

Fraser pursued the close to home subject matter with fervour and completely self-funded the documentary, purchasing his own camera and calling in favours from friends within the industry for help and additional equipment. After spending countless hours back on the farm and in Jamaica learning about the migrant worker experience, Fraser took on the additional work of editing and distributing to ensure the self-made film could have the appropriate impact.

“Living as Brothers is a very simple film, I allowed my subjects to tell their stories in their own words,” said Fraser. “I hope my students find it inspiring and see that they can create their own media projects and if they bring their passion to it, they can get their work seen and hopefully inspire others.”

Fraser, like many DC faculty members, continues to pursue his passion outside the classroom to ensure what he provides in the classroom remains relevant and beneficial to his students.

“The reality is that the media landscape that students are now venturing into is changing rapidly,” said Fraser. “Working on my own projects keeps me involved in the industry, hones my technical skills and feeds my passion and I think it’s one way I can help my students succeed when they go off to work on their own projects by sharing my technical skills, creative skills and real-world experience.”

The final year of several Durham College (DC) programs require students to complete an extensive capstone project. As part of this assignment, students must research their desired field of interest and develop a product using the skills they have learned through their program to fill a niche within the market. On April 7, students in the final year of the Electronics Engineering Technology program had the opportunity to show off their capstone creations.

“We expect our students to go out and find an opportunity or a problem to solve,” said Electronics Engineering Technology Professor Louis Bertrand. “We are trying to make them go out of the classroom and find something relevant to the real world and address that opportunity with what they have learned over the last three years with software, hardware, system design, analog hardware, transistors and chips.”

Ryan King, a third-year student in the program, excelled at this specific curriculum requirement. Combining a passion for cars with what he had learned through his program, King developed an aftermarket device allowing for electronic vehicle automation (EVA) in older vehicles. The device, which is installed into an older vehicle, allows use of modern features such as interactive voice commands, Bluetooth control through a smartphone or tablet and live engine telemetry readouts via duel LCD screens to a not-so-modern vehicle.

“I thought about what’s something all cars except those built in the last two or three years lacks, that automation, that voice control,” said King. “It would be really cool to bring that into the car scene as an aftermarket feature so with EVA you can now keep your hands on the wheel, keep your eyes on the road, talk to the car to turn different things on and start it with your phone from a distance.”

During the fall semester students spent one hour a week in class dedicated to learning project requirements such as patent searching, project management and mechanical technology as well as hearing from previous graduates who provide insight from their own capstone experiences.

“It’s a challenge,” said Bertrand. “We try and make sure the challenge isn’t so insane they just give up but challenging enough that it really stretches their capabilities and because it’s something generated by the students themselves, they are a lot more enthusiastic about the capstone assignment then us coming along with a single project designed for everyone.”

The Durham College (DC) campus was alive with the sound of music last week as students in the Music Business Management (MBM) program held their annual Reel Music Festival from April 2 to 5. The festival, in its fourteenth year, is organized entirely by students as part of their curriculum and features a song writing competition, educational conference, film showcase and several artist performances throughout the three days.

The festival was developed for MBM students to assist with providing hands-on experience in event planning along with giving insight into the music industry. As well, students are offered opportunities to engage in networking opportunities through the various events.

 This year saw a number of music industry professionals making appearances at the event, highlighted by MBM graduate and MTV Canada host Lauren Toyota who returned to DC to moderate Songs Revealed, the annual song writing competition developed to showcase local talent to a panel of industry professionals. Durham College president Don Lovisa and Oshawa mayor John Henry were also in attendance for the song writing event.

“Just as DC showcases its art students, this event is a showcase for MBM students,” said MBM student Danielle Feraday. “It’s showcasing everything we’ve learned in our classes this year and helping teach us real world aspects along the way.”

Additional highlights from this year’s festival included live performances throughout the Oshawa region at local establishments including The Hub, Wasted Space and EP Taylor’s; Prescription 2 Rock, a clinic on the music business hosted by Dale Russell from Canadian rock band the Guess Who; and several seminars such as The Power of Branding, Planning Live Music, The Current State of the Music Industry and DIY Musicians.

The Durham College (DC) Whitby campus has primarily been the home of programs from the School of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship and Renewable Energy which has meant the campus has been filled  with a predominantly- male student population. This mirrors industry trends which see women represent only 19 per cent of apprentices in Ontario. However, this trend has recently begun to change as more women have chosen to pursue careers in the skilled trades.

Jessica Cooper, Samantha Hulcio, Lindsey McKay, Jordan Burch and Courtney Pelow-Jones are all students in the Welding Techniques program at DC and have all begun to pursue a career in the trades despite several of them having completed prior degree or diploma programs.

Both Hulcio and Cooper are examples of this transition to the trades with Hulcio earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from Trent University and Cooper earning a diploma in Police Foundations from Fleming College prior to coming to DC. However, both also possess a desire to work in the trades and through DC’s welding program have found an outlet to pursue it.

“I realized that was not the path I wanted to take with my future,” said Hulcio when asked about her prior education. “I instead did some research into the trades programs because I knew that was the type of work I enjoy.”

Both students credit the warm and accepting learning environment for their success thus far.

“Working alongside the guys in my program has been very enjoyable,” said Hulcio. “We have a great group in our class and they have treated all the women with respect and encouragement.”

The number of women in trades has increased since the early 1990s with the number of skilled trades programs completed by females rising 13 per cent since 1991 according to Statistics Canada. However, this still only amounts to a one or two per cent representation in several trade categories as the larger share of apprenticeships completed by women is within the food and service and hairstylist/hairstyling programs. This is a trend that both Hulcio and Cooper know they can assist in changing.

“I believe that it is important for women to pursue trades because there are a lot of good paying jobs out there and they don’t all need to be done by just men, even though that’s what we’ve been told over and over for years,” said Cooper.

The Whitby campus currently offers 14 apprenticeship programs including 11 that are Red Seal as well as numerous trade-related diploma and certificate programs; living lab environments in areas including solar cell systems, wind turbines and geothermal technology systems; expanded shop areas for green building trades and technology; and most recently the 36,000-square-foot Centre for Food, which opened to students in the fall of 2013.