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Women in skilled trades DC talk gender parity

On March 5, Women in Skilled Trades Durham College (WISTDC) hosted a networking event for female students studying in the School of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship and Renewable Technology. The event featured guest speaker Stephanie Smith, plant manager at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) Pickering, and focused on gender parity at OPG and the employment opportunities available to women within skilled trades.

OPG has made gender parity a key organizational goal in connection with the trades that account for a significant portion of their workforce. Smith shared her own experiences working with the trades and the direction in which OPG is headed. She was joined by guest journeywomen women Melissa Damiani and Judy Bartley, also with OPG, who discussed their experiences as tradespersons and answered questions from attendees.

Damiani, an instrumentation technician and electrician, is the first female section manager in the Maintenance department at OPG. Bartley is a first line manager for Civil Maintenance, Deep Clean, Painters and Dosimetry Handling. She is also the Durham Region representative for Women in Nuclear Canada, an organization dedicated to promoting the role of women in the Canadian nuclear and radiation related industries.

WISTDC is dedicated to creating opportunities for female students in DC’s skilled trades programs at the Whitby campus to connect and network with other women working in skilled trades as well as each other. 

The first WISTDC event was held in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and encouraged students and DC employees to volunteer at an Oshawa build site. It was an incredible opportunity for students in the skilled trades to practice their craft within the community.

For the latest related news and event information, follow @WISTDC on Twitter.

DC students wow at Teaching City Hackathon

A team of Durham College (DC) students captured an impressive second-place finish in the first-ever Teaching City Hackathon on March 3. A total of 10 teams of Oshawa post-secondary students went head-to-head on International Open Data Day for their chance to win $1,500 by proposing a solution to a public policy challenge around the theme of improving residential rental housing in Oshawa.

Members of the DC team known as P.A.M. received a $750 prize for their solution of a website that focused on the inclusivity of the most marginalized Oshawa populations. Each of the competition’s top three teams will now work with the Hackathon Steering Committee, Spark Centre and local entrepreneurs to review opportunities for their proposed solutions to be refined and developed into a potential commercial product, a process which could be explored through partnerships and further research and exploration by students and faculty in their institutions.

“The Teaching City Hackathon not only provided fresh ideas and new approaches to residential rental housing in Oshawa, but also an enriched educational experience,” said Oshawa Mayor John Henry. “I am constantly amazed by the brilliant minds that call Oshawa home. Giving opportunities to young people will change the world, and this is a great example.”

“I was very impressed by the students’ ability to address the challenge from a number of different angles, the creativity of their solutions to the challenge and their presentation skills,” said Janse Tolmie, chief information officer and associate vice-president, Information Technology, DC.

The Hackathon was the second project of Teaching City, a formal collaboration between the City of Oshawa, Canadian Urban Institute, DC, Trent University Durham GTA, University of Ontario Institute of Technology and University of Toronto Department of Civil Engineering. Teaching City aims to establish Oshawa as a city focused on experiential learning, applied research and innovative teaching partnerships to address urban issues.

Learn more about Teaching City and its upcoming initiatives on the Teaching City web page.

 

DC launches dedicated app for prospective international students

Durham College (DC) International is making sure the international student experience comes first with the launch of a pioneering mobile application for those looking to study in Canada. The Durham Assist app is a one-stop shop for students, providing all the information they need to know about studying in Canada and at DC.

Developed in partnership with Canadian developer Maple Assist Inc. and three other Canadian colleges, the Durham Assist app is currently being piloted with potential and new students coming from India. The application provides international students with relevant, comprehensive information about studying in Canada and the DC student experience specifically. 

The app is designed to streamline communication between the college and international students, simplify the application and study permit process, ensure students are better prepared for the cultural and academic transition to Canada and support transportation and arrival planning and services.

Sponsors of the project include Air Canada, Scotiabank and India-based HDFC Bank. These and other sponsors have committed to providing student users with special offers for items such as flights, bank fees, exchange rates and arrival packages that include bedding and other early arrival needs.

Students in India can download the app from the Apple App Store and Google Play.  Once the pilot is complete, the app will be made available more broadly.

DC’s international team opted for a mobile application to improve student service based on the ever-increasing prevalence of smartphones around the world. Based on the success of the pilot project in India, the college will look at expanding the app to other countries with students looking to pursue post-secondary education in Canada.

As of January 2018, DC is home to more than 1,445 international students, representing 61 countries from around the world.

DC hosts FIRST® Robotics Competition and offers students glimpse of college life

While competing in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) Ontario District Durham College (DC) event on March 3 and 4, high school students from across the province also got a first look at where they could be headed next while visiting the college’s Oshawa campus.

For the fourth year in a row, DC hosted more than 1,000 of the province’s brightest young minds, along with their mentors, family, friends and fellow robot enthusiasts, at the annual event. Competitors demonstrated their technological and engineering skills and knowledge as they operated five-feet-tall, 140-pound robots they had designed and built in only six weeks.

Teams competed in this year’s intensive arcade-themed game, FIRST® POWER UPSM. Robot fans enjoyed watching teams play the game that saw them trapped in an 8bit-video-game world and use power cubes to defeat the game’s boss.

During the competition’s opening ceremony both DC president Don Lovisa and FIRST® alum/DC Mechanical Engineering Technology student Donald Bark encouraged the crowd to take advantage of their time at the college to explore the campus. In particular, FIRST® competitors were directed to the Integrated Manufacturing Centre, where robot repairs and tune ups were being offered by DC faculty and students using the facility’s industrial-grade equipment.

After two days of intensive battles, organized with the help of numerous, dedicated volunteers, the following teams comprising the Red Alliance were declared district champions:

  • Team 610 – Crescent School Coyotes, North York
  • Team 4476 – W.A.F.F.L.E.S Community Robotics, Kingston
  • Team 6110 – Archbishop Denis O’Connor Catholic High School Doc Botics, Ajax

Students had a lot of fun while gaining real-world engineering experience, developing leadership skills and learning to work as a team under pressure and tight timelines.

Winners of the DC event now move on to the FIRST® Ontario Provincial Championship at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, April 12 to 14, where they will compete for a spot at the World Championships that will be held in Detroit, Michigan, from April 25 to 28.

Learn more about FRC.

Durham College hosts Dragons’ Den auditions

On February 28, Durham College (DC) hosted auditions for the hit CBC television show Dragons’ Den for the third year in a row. The packed schedule saw 30 new business concepts and products pitched to producers of the show.

DC students and members of the general public, all of them entrepreneurs, auditioned while trying to balance their nerves, emotions and determination to secure a spot to present their pitch directly to the Dragons.

A wide variety of ideas were unveiled during the auditions, including three pitches from DC students. A group from the Sport Management, Marketing Business and Entrepreneurship and Small Business programs showcased a project focused on taking competitive athletic training to the next level to prepare high-school students for upcoming competitive seasons. A student from Paralegal program presented a tool for legal self-representation. A student from the Entrepreneurship and Small Business program pitched an organization that helps bridge the gap between professional videogame teams and potential sponsors.

DC students were encouraged to get support from FastStart, the college’s entrepreneurial training program, ahead of their pitches. Those who did were given advice on how to create a short, concise and to-the-point presentation and were reminded that most successful pitches tell a story about who the entrepreneurs are, what their motivation is for their business, what value the proposition holds for potential customers and what’s in it for the investors.

Holding events on campus like the Dragons’ Den auditions helps DC to continue developing entrepreneurial skills and strategic thinking among students, while encouraging them to keep moving forward in order to succeed.

DC revs its engines at 2018 Canadian International Autoshow

Students from Durham College’s (DC) Automotive Technician – Service and Management (Motive Power Technician) program participated in a live panel interview at the 2018 Canadian International Autoshow on February 23.

Sponsored by the Trillium Automobile Dealers Association’s Career Start education program, the interview was part of the Live Stage series at the show, featuring new, innovative and unique automotive programs at post-secondary institutions.

DC’s panel participants included first-year students Dan Howell and Marco Grande and second-year students Alorah Abell, Keeshan Sharma and Cass Varty.

The students’ interview highlighted DC’s unique Kit Car Build, a comprehensive learning experience exclusive to DC automotive students. Beginning in their first year, students build one of two Factory Five Racing kit cars — a 33 Hot Rod or MK4 Shelby Roadster — throughout their program, completing the vehicle prior to graduation. The project puts emphasis on mechanical hands-on training, critical thinking and essential employability skills.

DC’s two-year automotive program is designed to give graduates technical skills, theoretical knowledge and a solid understanding of business practices to confidently enter their careers at an advanced level. The program focuses on a diploma-to-apprenticeship path, giving qualified graduates the opportunity to register as a level-three apprentice.

DC grad Victoria Rinsma cooks up another award win

Durham College (DC) graduate Victoria Rinsma earned a bronze medal at Chef Ireland 2018, part of the Chef Ireland Culinary Competitions, which took place in Dublin, February 6 and 7.

Representing the Institute of Technology Tralee’s (ITT) Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism Department, Rinsma was part of a four-person team that competed across three categories; she captured a bronze medal in the Irish Beef Fillet competition open class.

Rinsma is a graduate of DC’s Culinary Management program, where students develop their skills in the culinary arts while learning valuable management skills to take their careers to the next level. Rinsma’s win in Ireland is the latest in a series of culinary accomplishments she has received over the course of her academic career.

While studying at DC, Rinsma was part of the winning team at the 2016 Taste Canada Cook the Books competition, where she competed against top culinary students from across Ontario, and she received DC’s 2017 Gold Medal Award, which honours the college’s top culinary student.

Rinsma’s passion for cooking has taken her to ITT, where she is pursuing a three-year BA in Culinary Arts. ITT and DC enjoy a long-standing partnership that enables DC graduates of several of the college’s two- and three-year programs to enter ITT bachelor programs with advanced standing, allowing them to earn a degree in as little as two additional semesters of study. It is one of DC’s more than 450 academic pathways offered via agreements with universities in Ontario, Canada and around the world.

Congratulations, Victoria!

DC honours the legacy of Black Canadians during Black History Month Celebration

On February 21, Durham College (DC) students and employees were joined by community leaders to honour the legacy of Black Canadians past and present, during the college’s Black History Month celebration.

Hosted by the Office of Student Diversity, Inclusion and Transitions, DC was honoured to host special guests Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Member of Parliament for Whitby, and Mayor of Oshawa John Henry, who both spoke at the event.

DC’s Black History Month Celebration also featured a dance and drumming workshop by Sanaaj Mirrie, social entrepreneur and artistic director of Afiwi Groove School, and a poetry reading by artist, activist and social innovator Greg Frankson, a.k.a Ritallin.

DC celebrates International Development Week

Durham College (DC) took part in Global Affairs Canada’s International Development Week (IDW), established in 1991, as a uniquely Canadian tradition that celebrates contributions to poverty reduction and international humanitarian assistance in the developing world. DC celebrated this event with a full program for students and employees emphasizing Global Affairs Canada’s theme “Partners for a Better World”, encouraging Canadians to build an more inclusive, peaceful and prosperous world.

DC’s IDW events began with a message from Member of Parliament Celina Caesar-Chavannes who congratulated the college’s internationalization efforts and reminded us of the responsibility DC has to mobilize global citizens. Other activities included a Global Class on access and equity in education, where guest speaker Christian Mutalamuna, who is a DC alumni from the Democratic Republic of Congo, encouraged a packed room of DC students, as well as participants from Russia, Zambia, Ghana, Mexico and Toronto to push through external and internal limitations in the pursuit of education.

DC also hosted a Marketplace, which featured 14 non-governmental organizations, local artists and fair-trade vendors.  Students and employees also heard of the many opportunities the college offers for international experiences from education abroad, to participating on DC’s international projects and partnerships. Other highlights included the screening of a thought-provoking documentary on climate change, hearing the stories of peer’s international experiences, a presentation from Limerick Institute of Technology on degree completion in Ireland and cultural dance lessons facilitated by DC alumni.

DC helps clear the smoke surrounding growing cannabis industry

On February 15, Durham College’s (DC) School of Continuing Education, along with industry leaders GrowWise Health, Ample Organics and Cannabis at Work, presented an Ontario Cannabis Industry Q&A event.

Inspired by conversations being had in DC’s new Medical Cannabis Fundamentals for Business Professionals course, the event discussed the status of the rapidly expanding Ontario cannabis industry; the increased demand for a skilled workforce including expectations for growth and what it will mean for job creation; the types of jobs being created; and the skills professionals will need to fill those jobs.

The event reached capacity within 48-hours of being announced, highlighting the need for more dialog and education about the cannabis industry in Ontario and across Canada. Approximately 70 participants comprising students, job seekers, investors, healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, among others, took part. They were able to ask questions of the experts on areas such as what employers are looking for in prospective employees, where the industry is going and the types of regulatory issues yet to be resolved by government.  It was a great opportunity to gain insights from some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry.

Future events will be held in March. Anyone interested in attending one of DC’s Ontario Cannabis Industry Q&A sessions is invited to put their name on the registration list by emailing barbara.knox@durhamcollege.ca. All DC students, faculty and alumni, as well as members of the public, are welcome and encouraged to attend.