St. Leo Catholic School student Patrick Schuck cleans the teeth of one of Durham College’s Dental Clinic’s practise heads. More than 280 grade 7 and 8 students explored the college on May 12 and 19, learning about the programs offered by the college through a series of fun and informative workshops.

Students from several Durham Region elementary schools visited Durham College’s Oshawa campus on May 12 and 19 to explore the benefits of post-secondary education during the college’s annual Building Future Connections event.

Drawing faculty from each of the college’s schools, the two-day event saw more than 280 grade 7 and 8 students explore various programs via group activities and course content discussions.

The goal of the event was to get students thinking about their futures early by introducing them to a variety of job fields including environmental studies, computer networking, journalism and dentistry.

“As early as Grade 1, students are learning about careers and post-secondary education,” said Susan Pratt, a professor with the School of Communication, Language & General Studies and the co-ordinator of the event. “About 20 per cent of kids leaving high school are eligible to come to college but don’t. We want to let them know just how important a college education is.”

Each workshop had its own hands-on activity to engage students. Visitors to the Dental Clinic cleaned the teeth of practice mannequins while students in the offices of Durham College’s newspaper, The Chronicle, interviewed one another.

“It’s pretty good,” said Patrick Schuck, a student from St. Leo Catholic School in Brooklin, Ontario who participated in the dental workshop. “Really interesting. Doing the teeth stuff is pretty fun.”

Building Future Connections is part of the provincial government’s School-College-Work Initiative, which aims to help students plan for a future in a college program. The workshops are one of several initiatives being conducted by the college to teach younger students about college life. A series of workshops on animation and film design were held on May 4 and 5 and Nursing Career Day was held on May 14.