Two Durham College (DC) graduates returned to campus on February 5, meeting with students to discuss their careers and life after graduation during the annual Alumni in the Pit event.

This year’s event featured Melissa Farrow, who graduated from the college’s Social Service Worker program in 2009 and the Child and Youth Worker program (now Child and Youth Care), in 2011. Joining her was James Hammond, a 2006 graduate of DC’s Business Administration, Management and Operations program (now Supply Chain and Operations – Business).

Melissa Farrow:

Melissa Farrow is a program co-ordinator at Hospital for Sick Children where she provides direct service and care for kids and their families in the Psychiatry Day Hospital Program. Her role includes counselling through individual, group and family therapy following a cognitive behavioural therapy informed approach, developing individualized care plans, completing psychosocial assessments for psychiatry program referrals and coordinating placements for post-secondary students studying in child and youth counsellor programs. In addition, Melissa supports her alma mater and its students by acting as a field practicum advisor and professor.

Noting the importance of networking, she urged students to take odd jobs, connect with people in their field and volunteer, not just for their resume but for the sake of learning and giving back.

James Hammond:

James Hammond is the managing director of Cleeve Technology Inc. (Cleeve), a high-tech, innovative company in the electrical interconnect sector of the aerospace and defence industries worldwide. There he oversees all business operations within North America.  

Having started at Cleeve during his program placement, he was subsequently hired upon graduation and started working in the purchasing department. Thus began his 13-year career with the company as he climbed the ranks to his current position.

Given his own career path, James emphasized the importance of lifelong learning and keeping an open mind, of not being too proud to learn the basics and listening to your gut and leaning on your strengths. He also reiterated the role of networking in successfully navigating your career.

Alumni in the Pit is part of DC’s backpack2Briefcase program, a series of events designed to help students and recent alumni make a smooth transition from college to the workplace. Events and workshops are held throughout the year to offer opportunities for both personal and professional development that will enhance the skills and training students learn in the classroom.

The co-chairs of the annual campus holiday food drive are extending their sincere thanks to everyone who helped make the 2018 initiative a resounding success.

A longstanding campus tradition, the drive provides hampers and financial assistance to Durham College (DC) and University of Ontario Institute of Technology (the university) student families in need.

“This yearly initiative is such an important one for our students,” says Lori Russell, manager of Information and Client Services – Office of the Registrar for the university and a co-chair of the drive. “When you have a student in your office who is struggling to afford the day-to-day necessities of life and is worried about providing for their children over the holidays – this type of assistance can be extremely impactful for the student and their family.”

“The success of the holiday food drive would not be possible without everyone who came together for this great cause,” says Russell’s co-chair, Kevin Griffin, a professor in DC’s School of Justice & Emergency Services. “Whether you donated non-perishable food items, packed boxes or spread the word about this great initiative – it all made a difference thanks to a strong group effort from students and employees at both institutions. I’m proud to say that we were able to pack and distribute 105 hampers.”

The campus holiday food drive is organized annually by DC, the university, the Kinsmen Club of Oshawa, UOIT Student Union and Durham College Students Inc.

On January 16, Durham College (DC) celebrated the launch of the e-book, Active Learning Strategies for Higher Education.

A collaborative project through the Centre for Higher Education Research, Policy and Practice (CHERPP), the practical handbook was written by 12 post-secondary education practitioners from DC, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Technological University (TU) Dublin to provide educators with valuable strategies for improving classroom engagement to deliver an enriched student experience.

DC president Don Lovisa kicked off the book launch by congratulating all of those involved. Joining him in giving remarks were Dairmuid O’Callaghan, principal, TU Dublin, Blanchardstown Campus; Robert Bailey, interim provost and vice-president, Academic, University of Ontario Institute of Technology; and Cormac Doran, head, CHERPP.

On December 18, Durham College’s (DC) Enactus team hosted 100 local high school students from Monsignor Paul Dwyer and Monsignor John Pereyma Catholic secondary schools for the inaugural Side Hustle Summit. The one-day entrepreneurship conference designed for students in a Ministry of Education Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program is an Enactus DC social innovation project. The conference aims to motivate and empower young adults to pursue entrepreneurship while providing practical strategies for social media and website building.

The conference kicked off with keynote speaker Dan Cole, a DC alumnus and founder of RandomTens, a YouTube channel with over 21 million views, while workshops held throughout the day focused on entrepreneurial thinking, personal branding and development, using social media for business, and rapid website deployment.

Enactus DC will continue to support conference attendees who have expressed an interest in incubating new business ideas in 2019 by preparing them for the Summer Company program delivered by the Business Advisory Centre Durham and funded through grants by the Government of Ontario.