Durham College (DC) hosted several dignitaries from the government, educational and corporate sectors on July 10 for the National Inventors Hall of Fame™ (NIHF) Reception in the Centre for Collaborative Education’s Global Classroom at the Oshawa campus. During the event, guests took a tour of the first-ever Canadian offering of Camp Invention™ and spoke with camp educators and participants of the non-profit summer enrichment program.

In attendance was U.S. Consul General Greg Stanford; Mayor Dan Carter, City of Oshawa; and John Wrycraft and Evan Bombino of technology leader Johnson Controls Inc., as well as Amy Gorecki, executive director, and Nathalie Rudner, president-elect, of the Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario/L’Association des professeurs de sciences de l’Ontario.

Camp Invention is a program developed by the non-profit NIHF, in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It was held at the DC Oshawa campus from July 8 to 12 and provided a unique experience for children to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). National Inventors Hall of Fame (Canada) is the Canadian non-profit organization responsible for introducing NIHF’s ground-breaking innovation ecosystem to young inventors in Canada. The one-week program was funded by the United States Embassy in Ottawa and U.S. Consulate in Toronto.

Overseen by four teachers from both the Durham District School Board and Durham Catholic District School Board, and five counsellors, Camp Invention’s 2019 Supercharged™ program allowed campers the opportunity to learn about ocean navigation and survival skills on a remote island, conduct mock DNA tests on farm animals and learn to protect their own ideas. As an added bonus, at the end of the week, each camper brought home their own robot.