On October 26, Durham College (DC) once again hosted the Expand The Possibilities: Young Women in Science, Technology and Trades (YWSTT) conference, which saw more than 1,000 students in Grades 7 and 8, from five school board across Ontario, virtually come together for a morning of exploration designed to connect them with careers in science, technology and skilled trades designed to encourage girls to pursue careers in science, technology and skilled trades.

 Beginning with an inspiring keynote presentation from Gitanjali Rao, who has been recognized as America’s Top Young Scientist and one of Forbes “30 Under 30 in Science”, as well as TIME’s “Top Young Innovator” and “Kid of the Year” for her innovations and STEM workshops, the students then participated in hands-on workshops.

Each workshop was led virtually by DC faculty and employees, along with active facilitation on the part of the classroom teachers, and featured a variety of engaging experiments and challenges. Examples included coding a Bristlebot; making bath bombs with household ingredients; building a pasta tower and discussing social media safety.

This is the third time DC has hosted the conference, which was the largest to-date, and it couldn’t have been done without the generosity and support of community sponsors General Motors of Canada, Gerdau, Ontario Power Generation, RESCON and Black & McDonald.

More information about YWSTT, as well as a unique post-conference plant growing competition for the attending classes to participate in over the next month and a half, is available online.