Once again, Durham Colleges (DC) Paramedic students have demonstrated their exceptional skills as they placed second and sixth in the Student Division of The National Paramedic Competition, held at the college’s Whitby campus on April 5.

The annual event, held in the Durham Region, challenges paramedics from across the country in head-to-head simulated emergencies to prove who the best in Canada are. This prestigious competition found its origins as the Durham Paramedic Skills Competition before transitioning to the now national competition in 2008. In turn, this has allowed for the prestige of DC’s Paramedic program to increase as a recognized partner with the event.

Students from DC compete annually in the student division, placing them alongside their professional counterparts in search of the best in the country. This year two teams of second year students competed for DC, with Geoff Hooper and Andrew Mokedanz achieving a second place podium finish while Jamere Bembrisge and Stefano Marcelli finished sixth.

“It is fun for the students to be challenged in a unique way and this is a wonderful event for the college to be involved in,” said Paramedic professor Kevin Griffin.

Along with competing, DC also had a large number of students assist in the hosting of the event as volunteers, providing an opportunity to network and learn from the professional teams in attendance.

“This is an opportunity for the students to showcase what they have learned over their two years in a setting with working paramedics,” said Griffin. “It offers students a networking opportunity as many services send representatives and any level of involvement in the competition is seen as a plus by employers during hiring.”

Along with the college’s student success, Durham Region Emergency Medical Services (EMS) placed first in the Primary Care Paramedic division. For more information on the national competition including results, photos and competition history, please visit www.paramediccompetition.ca. 

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.