Outreach

��˾��ֱ�� prof aims to inspire diversity in health care through mentorship and social media

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 16:14:59 +0000

��˾��ֱ�� prof aims to inspire diversity in health care through mentorship and social media

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 02/20/2024 - 11:14

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(photo by Ashiqur Rahman Rean)

Gabrielle Giroday

Topic

Our Community

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Outreach

Subheadline

"Not everyone has a family member or mentor in medicine. What I realized is that I can be an auntie to people who are interested in medicine or health careers"

Onye Nnorom says a significant hurdle to entering the health-care profession for students from underrepresented communities is often the absence of a family member or other mentor already in the field – someone who can provide encouragement and advice.

It’s a gap that she’s now aiming to bridge using the power of social media.

“What I realized is that I can be an auntie to people who are interested in medicine or health careers,” says Nnorom, an assistant professor in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s department of family and community medicine and at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

Starting today, Nnorom is launching a series of Instagram Live sessions that aims to encourage teen and young adults from underrepresented backgrounds to consider a career in medicine or other health professions. It’s part of an outreach effort called Healthcaring Differently, which will also include career information for first-year medical students.

Nnorom, who is also the co-lead of the Black Health Education Collaborative, recently spoke with writer Gabrielle Giroday about the inspiration behind the initiative and what she hopes it will ultimately achieve.

How will the initiative work?

Healthcaring Differently is social media outreach that encourages young people from diverse backgrounds to consider careers in medicine and health care.

It comprises two parts. One is Instagram Live sessions – every Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST, starting Feb. 20 – that feature health-care experts talking about their careers, including both physicians and other health leaders who are nurses or researchers. The spring series will go from February to April, and then there will be another series this fall. We’re at @healthcaringdifferently.

The second component will be a newsletter, where people who are interested can get more information about diversity pathways in medical schools and other health professional schools, scholarship information and jobs or research opportunities.

Who is your target audience, and why?

One thing I realized when I was in medical school was that a lot of people had a parent or family member to ask for guidance, or other mentors in their life. That person provides a lot of information around how to think like a physician, how to prepare for the MCAT or how to obtain research opportunities. That helps a person get into medical school and thrive once they’re there.

But not everyone has a family member or mentor in medicine. What I realized is that I can be an auntie to people who are interested in medicine or health careers.

I can be your auntie, I can come to the table – the Instagram table – and I can bring the biscuits and spill some tea, and bring my diverse friends with me.

There’s three key groups I am hoping to reach with this initiative. One is high school students – who might not even be thinking about medicine or health care as a career – to plant the seed of an idea. The second key group are young people in college, or in their undergraduate studies, who are thinking about medicine but don’t know about the resources available to them.

Lastly, I also want to reach first-year medical students because it can be such a jarring time for people. I spoke to first-year students and they told me when they were trying to get into medical school, they thought that was the top of the mountain. But, once they made it in, they realized there are three more mountains: CARMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service), your fellowship and your career beyond that. So, it can just feel very daunting.

I am hoping this initiative will help support first-year students and help them think about different specialties in medicine and different ways of approaching health care.

What inspired this initiative?

Healthcaring Differently is an initiative, or a movement, to encourage my colleagues – those who are diverse and under-represented in medicine – to mentor out loud. Personally, in my life right now, I am trying to live out loud and share more about my life so that people can see a Black female doctor who is in Canada being an advocate.

So many of my friends are so talented and doing amazing work in health care, and deserve more attention. I also want more young people to be aware of all the pathways that exist into medicine and careers in health care.

Why is the timing of this initiative important?

It's a critical time in health care right now. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been massive burnout for health-care workers.

The pandemic also showed us that there are so many groups that are not being adequately served by our health-care system.

In my work, in my advocacy, I already knew this – I have been doing Black health advocacy work for a decade. But the COVID-19 pandemic really brought a greater public awareness that our health-care system needs to change if we want diverse communities to be well.

The other thing that I noticed is that for a lot of my friends and my colleagues, despite the challenges in health care, they’re still doing all this really cool and innovative work in the community, with Indigenous communities, Black communities and LGBTQ+ communities.

However, young people weren’t always seeing this, especially people who are part of under-represented or diverse groups. They weren’t seeing the magic. So I asked myself, “How can I help to bridge this?” And I decided it’s a great time to boost inspiration about the fantastic work my colleagues are doing.

There’s also another element. After the tragedy of the murder of George Floyd and the resulting activism, a lot of medical schools and professional health schools developed more diversity pathways – in particular pathways for Black and Indigenous students, as well as other diverse groups, across the country.

For example, Ike Okafor, founder and strategic lead of access and outreach at Temerty Medicine’s Office of Access and Outreach, has helped make tremendous strides with programs like Community of Support, which has been implemented at other Canadian medical schools.

But, a lot of people don’t know about these pathways, especially in other provinces. So, this initiative can highlight the fantastic work my friends are doing beyond Ontario and make their work more visible. To that end, I am also planning a newsletter to let people know about these opportunities.

What is your hope for this initiative?

For people who come from marginalized communities, you will hear us say this: You need to see it to know that you can be it.

And for me – there has been a lot of learning, too – I am working with 21-year-old student Mathushan Ambida, who is helping with social media.

My hope is that this through this initiative we can harness the power of social media to expose young people to all of the diverse and creative ways that I and my colleagues approach health care.

That way, people who have an interest can be connected to a pathway program to pursue medicine or nursing, or whatever heath field they are curious about.

��˾��ֱ�� Engineering program introduces Black high school students to STEM careers

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 20:48:52 +0000

��˾��ֱ�� Engineering program introduces Black high school students to STEM careers

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 02/12/2024 - 15:48

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Jadesola Babalola-Lucas, 16, explored her passion for engineering during ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering's Blueprint program last summer (supplied image)

Safa Jinje

Topic

Our Community

Black

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Outreach

Undergraduate Students

Subheadline

The free Blueprint program, open to students who have completed Grades 10 or 11, runs for four weeks during the summer and includes workshops throughout the year

Jadesola Babalola-Lucas, 16, has felt an affinity for math and science since she was in elementary school, but it was not until the summer of 2020 that she discovered her passion for engineering.

“I was stuck at home because of COVID-19 and watching a lot of TV, especially the Smithsonian Channel,” says Babalola-Lucas, who is now in Grade 11. “And I kid you not, I had an epiphany watching Planes That Changed the World.”

She was struck by aeronautical feats involved in the design of aircrafts such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest crewed aircraft with air-breathing engines, and the way the engineers overcame their challenges with creativity.

“I began to understand how interdisciplinary engineering really is, and it was at that moment that I realized engineers really do make the world go round,” says Babalola-Lucas. “Who wouldn’t want to be a part of something that big?”

A few years later, Babalola-Lucas stumbled upon a posting for Blueprint, an academic enrichment program run by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering for Black high school students who are passionate about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She could not pass up the opportunity to apply and step closer to her goal of studying either materials science or mechanical engineering, and then pursuing graduate studies in aerospace engineering.

The free, four-week Engineering Outreach program, which is taking applications for this summer until March 24, introduces students who have just finished Grades 10 and 11 to the engineering design process. Through course offerings, hands-on activities and collaborative projects, participants apply what they have learned to create innovative solutions for global issues.

Students are also connected with mentors, who are current undergraduate engineering students – some of whom have gone through the Blueprint program themselves. The mentors help participants understand the day-to-day experience of studying STEM subjects in university.

Blueprint students continue their engagement with ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering over the next school year through two programs – Prepare for Grade 11 students and My Academic Planning Sessions (MAPS) for Grade 12 students. From October through March, weekly virtual sessions guide the prospective university students through the obstacles they may face during their transitions from high school to university.

Additionally, Blueprint participants who are accepted into a ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering undergraduate program are eligible to receive one of five fully funded entrance scholarships that is renewable for four years.

“Blueprint allows Black students to meet successful individuals with similar racial and academic backgrounds. We do this by inviting Black STEM professionals and current engineering students as guest speakers over the summer and yearlong engagement,” says Cassandra Abraham, a co-ordinator at Engineering Outreach and Blueprint director.

“This representation can be empowering, instilling a sense of belonging and motivating students to pursue STEM careers.”

Students had opportunities to code robots in the Mechatronics and Automation course (photo by Shenile Ellis)

The program is structured to facilitate connection among peers. Students are initially divided into groups based on their hobbies and interests – information that is collected during the onboarding process – to encourage them to communicate with each other and form friendships, says Abraham.

When Shenile Ellis, 17, first applied to Blueprint, the then-Grade 11 student thought it would be a great opportunity to learn more about different engineering disciplines.

While she was already interested in mechanical engineering because she enjoyed 3D modelling and seeing projects come to life, she was keen to meet other Black students who were interested in STEM and get a glimpse of what it is like to learn on a university campus.

“I wasn’t sure I would get in, but when I did, I realized I should never count myself out,” Ellis says. “One of the Blueprint leaders always told us that we were there for a reason and that we are all capable.”

For Christine Martins-Ezeifeaku, 17, some of the most memorable moments from the summer were the hands-on activities that were a part of the two courses: Engineering and Human Health, and Mechatronics and Automation.

“In the biomedical engineering lab, we got to do many things we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do in a typical high school experience,” Martins-Ezeifeaku says. “We got to diagnose sickle cell anemia and create E. coli bacteria.

“Getting to code the robots in the mechatronics lab and seeing them move after we finished was also an amazing experience.”

Martins-Ezeifeaku, who has always gravitated towards working with computers and sees herself studying computer engineering or computer science at university in the fall, says she knows how important it is to see people like herself in the technology field.

“In Grade 10, I took a computer science course that was taught by a teacher who is a Black woman and I was surprised at first because I wasn’t expecting her,” she says. “I loved that class; it really sparked my interest.

“Everyone who has helped me work towards the technology field has been really encouraging.”

As part of a month-long engineering design challenge, Blueprint participants were placed in groups and tasked with designing a solution to a client’s problem. This culminated with a presentation in front of judges, ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering Dean Chris Yip, graduate students and family members at the Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

“I really enjoyed the project because it allowed me to work on my presentation and teamwork skills,” says Ellis. “The experience also gave us experience that we could use in a first-year engineering design course.”

Babalola-Lucas, meanwhile, was part of a team tasked to create a product that repelled locusts on a farm in Jamaica. Together, they designed and built an ultrasonic 40 kHz speaker with a high-enough frequency to disrupt the locusts, but too high for humans to hear – so it didn’t affect human quality of life or wildlife.

“It was really innovative for us, and we ended up winning the competition, which was an extraordinary moment for me,” Babalola-Lucas says. “The entire experience was also an important lesson because I learned that no engineer works alone. You need to know how to work with anyone and everyone. You need to know how to collaborate. Blueprint taught me that from day one.

“I think any Black student who knows they love STEM should join Blueprint. You’re not only going to be exposed to the different disciplines within engineering, but you’re also going to experience a taste of campus life and learn how to study like a university student. You won’t regret it.” 

Dismantling barriers: High school students experience ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga via program for Black youth

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:12:06 +0000

Dismantling barriers: High school students experience ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga via program for Black youth

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 01/24/2023 - 13:12

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SEE UTM graduate Onyinyechi Oluikpe shows off her certificate during the Support, Engage, Experience University of Toronto Mississauga program's celebration and graduation event (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Sharon Aschaiek

Topic

Our Community

Diversity and Inclusion

Abby-Gayle Isadora Allen and Trevon Nwaozor share the opinions of many first-year students when asked what it feels like to attend University of Toronto Mississauga:

“Eye-opening.”

“We can do anything we put our mind to.”

“We’re not alone…we have support.”

“I can do this.”

But Allen and Nwaozor aren’t typical T Mississauga students – at least not yet. They’re seniors in high school who recently took part in Support, Engage, Experience University of Toronto Mississauga, an innovative program that makes university education more accessible to Black youth who are underrepresented at Canada’s post-secondary schools.

Developed with the Peel District School Board and piloted this past fall, it allowed students in Grade 11 and 12 to earn a university half credit and two Ontario Secondary School Diploma credits, have a co-op experience and be mentored by a senior ��˾��ֱ�� undergraduate student while simultaneously completing their high school semester.

“The goal is for these students to not only experience the institution, but to see that they are capable of learning here,” says program co-facilitator Jessica Silver, director of student engagement in the Centre for Student Engagement. “When we talk about access, we’re actually talking about the ability to change someone’s ability to attend post-secondary … changing the trajectory of their life.”

Such programs are critical to advancing equity in a society where persistent racial discrimination and systemic socioeconomic barriers continue to adversely affect the participation of Black Canadians in higher education. Statistics Canada data shows that Black youth are less likely than their counterparts to have a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree.

Abby-Gayle Isadora Allen dances beside Juno Award-winning singer Liberty Silver during the SEE UTM celebration and graduation (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

To help address this disparity, ��˾��ֱ�� introduced SEE ��˾��ֱ��, the inaugural version of this access program, four years ago in collaboration with the Toronto District School Board. Operating in Woodsworth College on the St. George campus, the program has served multiple cohorts of senior students from two high schools in the city. A similar program is in place at ��˾��ֱ�� Scarborough.

Keen to apply the program at ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga and build on the campus’s existing efforts to smooth the pathway to university for Black high school students, Silver partnered with Emily Mancuso in Student Recruitment & Admissions to create a customized version for ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga that includes a dedicated academic adviser and the co-operation of numerous campus units.

“UTM is committed to inclusion and ensuring we’re providing access to Black students in their pursuit of post-secondary education,” says Mancuso, associate registrar and director of student recruitment and admissions. “We’re dedicated to dismantling barriers that hold anyone from reaching their full potential.”

Trevon Nwaozor gives a presentation during the SEE UTM celebration and graduation held on Jan. 18 (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Allen and Nwaozor were among 22 participants from Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School and Meadowvale Secondary School who participated in the pilot program. The Peel school board provided them with public transit fare or a chartered bus and money to buy lunch on campus. ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga, meanwhile, offered students the opportunity to experience academic and campus life, along with supports.

The students took part in the interdisciplinary foundations course called “Critical Thinking for STEM Learning” through the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy, with ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga covering tuition and book fees. There, they learned how STEM subjects intersect with society, history, politics, equity, environment and culture. To help them with their studies, they could turn to their mentor, their teaching assistant or a facilitated study group.

“You learn how to manage your workload…and how to communicate if you’re falling behind,” Allen says.

For her co-op placement, Allen served as a program assistant in the Centre for Student Engagement, where she was involved in analyzing the SEE UTM program, conducting research and identifying ways to improve future iterations. Meanwhile, Nwaozor’s placement aligned with his interests in social justice and political science. As a programming assistant in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office, he helped identify gaps in inclusion on campus and contributed a post to the office’s Twitter account on Martin Luther King Day.

“It gave me a glimpse of what it could look like to work on campus while being at school,” Nwaozor says.

Workshops focused on areas such as discovering your strengths, managing personal finances and adapting to the post-secondary environment. The students were also exposed to ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga’s wide range of services and facilities, and were provided with a student card to use across campus.

Allen and Nwaozor say the one-on-one mentoring they each received from a third- or fourth-year student was a highlight. Over 20 hours spread across bi-weekly half-hour sessions, the pair were able to learn first-hand about the highlights and challenges of being a university student.

“It’s almost like having an older sibling…they support you and give you ideas and tips,” Allen says.

SEE UTM graduates Giovanni Williams and Josephine Tzogas take a photo with their certificates during the program's celebration (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Tobi Mohammed was a mentor in the SEE UTM program as well as the teaching assistant for their course. The fourth-year biology for health sciences student helped participants tackle skills such as time management, learning how to apply to university and creating LinkedIn profiles.

Mohammed says that she wishes she could have been part of a similar program for Black students upon entering university. Helping other Black youth navigate university is inherently rewarding, she adds, and her way of helping to make higher education more inclusive.

“We talked about their ambitions and goals, their personal struggles. We talked about everything. We cried together,” Mohammed says. “I get to help set these students up for success, while helping to diversify post-secondary education.”

��˾��ֱ�� program connects high school students with Indigenous land-based knowledge systems and STEM fields

geoff.vendeville — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 15:56:55 +0000

��˾��ֱ�� program connects high school students with Indigenous land-based knowledge systems and STEM fields

geoff.vendeville Tue, 07/19/2022 - 11:56

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Darlee Gerrard and Ethan Boyer co-lead the Indigenous Design & Engineering Academy, an initiative for Indigenous youth offered through ��˾��ֱ��'s Engineering Outreach Office (photo by Safa Jinje)

Safa Jinje

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Indigenous

Outreach

As part of a University of Toronto enrichment program geared toward Indigenous youth, 18-year-old Mya Simpson was invited to design a STEM activity for youth that could be used at future camps or outreach events.

She and her partner designed an exercise that teaches individuals to loom bead keychains, using different colours to represent the different layers of the Earth. “I loved the experience because of how relevant it was to me as an Ojibwe youth,” Simpson says.

“We had the opportunity to hear from so many Knowledge Keepers and STEM professionals, and we talked a lot about how we, as Indigenous people, are scientists – and have been scientists for long before colonization tried to tell us otherwise.”

The Indigenous Design & Engineering Academy – IDEA, for short – is hosted by the Engineering Outreach Office in ��˾��ֱ��’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. It offers land-based learning to inspire Indigenous secondary students to pursue an engineering education and career. Returning for its second year, the program reinforces the ways scientific knowledge is ingrained in Indigenous cultures and traditions.

“The motivation behind the creation of IDEA was similar to many of our other Engineering Outreach programs,” says Darlee Gerrard, who co-leads IDEA with Ethan Boyer, a master's student at Trent University. “We want to engage audiences that find themselves underrepresented and underserved in STEM fields, especially engineering.”

“We are aware of and recognize that Indigenous knowledge and perspectives – as well as the people and communities – are often left out of these conversations and left out of this content,” says Boyer. “We want to engage youth participants in a way that prioritizes their knowledge, traditions and experiences.”

IDEA provides a suite of programming for Indigenous students of all ages. Its first offering is Leader-in-Training (LIT), a program for secondary school students, which will be held in two sessions this summer, one earlier this July and another the first week of August. This year, IDEA is introducing a new program called Horizons for students in Grades 3 to 6. Registration opens this month.

Mya Simpson’s sketch of the Earth’s layers, left, is seen next to the cardboard loom she and her partner created for the beading project (photo by Mya Simpson)

LIT is an Indigenous-led experience for Indigenous students that focuses on the connection between traditional Land-based knowledge systems and STEM through workshops, presentations and hands-on activities that prepare participants for future leadership opportunities working with children and youth.

“I am a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario, and for a long time, I’ve wanted my identity to be part of the programs that I have been coordinating,” says Gerrard, who received her PhD in the spring in Engineering Education, a collaborative specialization offered jointly by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) and ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering.

“I have a very deep personal connection to the content and our participants.”

More than 20 students participated in the first iteration of LIT, which was held virtually as result of pandemic restrictions in the summer of 2021.

The lessons the students learned through conversations with traditional knowledge keepers were especially impactful, says Nodin Outten-Joseph, 16, who is of L’nu and Mohawk ancestry.

“I’ve always strongly identified with my Indigenous roots and the LIT program very much delivered on the integration of diverse Indigenous ideologies – including my people’s – into various aspects of the program,” he says.

“The teaching of STEM and leadership resonated with me, but most importantly they brought incredibly wise Indigenous mentors to expand our understanding of the world through Indigenous mindsets.”

Outten-Joseph says one teaching that has stuck with him is that “there is no difference between ecology and economy.”

“We can find critical traditional knowledge everywhere, but society is keeping us fixated on empty successes,” he says. “Success is just being able to take care of yourself and you need to keep in mind, less is more.”

Students who complete the LIT program will be prepared to take on instructional roles at camps and workshops, and they will also have opportunities to take part in additional Indigenous leadership and training opportunities through the ��˾��ֱ�� Engineering Outreach Office and Actua, Canada’s largest STEM organization, which includes the Engineering Outreach Office as one of its network members.

“With IDEA, our goal has always been to create something that not only has representation, but also creates a sense of strength, identity and community,” says Boyer, who is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario.

“Doug Dokis, the director of Actua’s National Indigenous Youth in STEM program, would often say to us that ‘You may not know what impact you’re having on a person, just know that you’re having one and understand that you won’t even see most of the impact of the work you’re doing.’”

Combating the 'CSI effect': ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga's forensic experts introduce youth to science of crime-solving

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 15:25:20 +0000

Combating the 'CSI effect': ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga's forensic experts introduce youth to science of crime-solving

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 02/26/2020 - 10:25

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Every year the forensic science department at ��˾��ֱ�� Mississauga hosts summer camps and high school field trips, which are so popular they've been booked through 2024 (photo courtesy of UTM Forensic Science)

A missing pet, a fist fight or even a murder. These are some of the cases elementary and high school students try to solve when they visit the University of Toronto Mississauga’s crime scene house.

Each year the forensic science department hosts high school field trips, runs summer camps and heads out into the community to share its love of science.

Camp UTM, a week-long program in the summer that caters to youth aged nine to 13, teaches children about forensic techniques through hands-on activities like dusting for fingerprints. At the end of the week, they apply that learning in the ultimate test: investigating and solving a case at the crime scene house.

“The crimes are PG,” says Murray Clayton, program and outreach officer for the forensic science department. He adds that the cases generally involve thefts, missing animals, arguments and mild assaults without a weapon.

For the high school program, the forensics team kicks up both the realism and complexity. Students in Grade 11 and Grade 12 visit for a day-long field trip during the school year. Older students use real materials and will find weapons and blood, Clayton says.

“They appreciate that we don’t dumb it down and we make it more realistic,” he says, noting the blood used is ethically sourced, pathogen-free sheep’s blood, so no sheep are sacrificed.

The high school program, which runs 24 times a year, is so popular that bookings are full through 2024, with priority given to schools that haven’t previously visited.

“It’s a mandate of ours that the high school program is always free,” Clayton adds. “No one should feel like they can’t access science.”

The program not only makes science accessible and transparent. It also increases understanding of what forensic scientists do.

“We have a big job combating what’s called the CSI effect,” Clayton says, explaining people who watch shows like Forensic Files, Law & Order and CSI are exposed to a “glamourized version” of science and can develop unrealistic expectations. By showing what forensic science really entails, the outreach programs help build public recognition and trust, he says.

It’s also a rewarding way to engage with the community. Clayton says he enjoys seeing the students have a good time, adding that it’s fun to see how invested they are in solving the crime.

The outreach programs are not intended to be a recruitment tool, but there are some who discover their passion for science all the same. According to Clayton, the camp has been around long enough that last year a forensic science student who participated in the camp as a child became a camp leader so she could give back what she learned.

“She wanted to give that experience to someone else,” he says, adding people are never too young (or old) to develop an interest in science. “UTM as a whole is always supportive of youth in science.”

��˾��ֱ�� outreach program imagines public health emergency involving Raptors – and Drake

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 16:15:18 +0000

��˾��ֱ�� outreach program imagines public health emergency involving Raptors – and Drake

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/16/2019 - 12:15

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Grace Xiong and her team of fellow Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute students present their plan for a fictional public health emergency as part of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health's inaugural Outreach and Access Program (photo by Françoise Makanda)

Françoise Makanda

Topic

Our Community

Institute of Health Policy Management and Evaluation

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Outreach

A virus hits Toronto just as the Raptors clinch the NBA championship and crowds pour into the streets.

For 11 high school students, this was the theoretical challenge they faced. And they had five days this summer to come up with a plan to avert catastrophe.

The students, from Toronto’s Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, were part of the inaugural Outreach and Access Program at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. The program is designed to interest high school students, particularly from under-represented communities, to study and pursue careers the field of public health.

“With this case study, students learned four different disciplines in public health, and used them to create the most comprehensive strategy which suits all populations across the city,” says Ryan Hinds, the program’s co-lead and a former CFL player who works at Toronto Central LHIN and is an alumnus of Dalla Lana’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.

“It’s a complex ask, and it’s challenging, but students looked forward to it.”

With the support of Dalla Lana’s faculty, Hinds chose the night former Raptor star player Kawhi Leonard reliably drained the free throw that secured the championship to create the fictional outbreak of the “Lebrontis-CoV” virus. In the scenario, the make-believe virus killed seven people who were at Jurassic Park that night – and sickened hip-hop superstar Drake.

Students were asked to provide their strategy to combat Lebrontis-CoV in a 20 minute presentation, with questions from judges who were all Dalla Lana alumni, professors and seasoned public health experts.

“It’s not necessarily about applying complex methods and models but rather, can they develop a comprehensive strategy that takes into account all the considerations that they learned this week?” says Hinds.

“We want to shift their thinking from being something that is more cookie-cutter, to grad-level thinking.”

Grace Xiong, in Grade 11, says that she now considers public health as a potential career path.

“I wish the program was longer,” she says. “It’s been a really great experience in terms of getting a better understanding of what public health is. We were actually able to dive deeper and understand the intricacies and nuances of public health.”

The program raises awareness of non-traditional career paths in Ontario’s health system while stimulating a diverse community of future academic and community leaders who can make a positive impact on their communities’ health.

What takes Dalla Lana students two years to master was strategically condensed into a five-day program. Students were exposed to many facets of public health with the help of Dalla Lana’s Arjumand Siddiqi, Laura Rosella, Charlotte Lombardo, Emily Seto and Ananya Banerjee. They learned about health structures and systems, social behaviour sciences and health promotion, health informatics and epidemiology.

“It’s been empowering to find adults who care that there are students that are very passionate about certain issues. All of the things we learned are applicable to public health but more so for undergraduate and graduate school,” says Xiong.

Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute was selected for the pilot as the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood has one of the highest public health priority needs. Should students continue within the program, they will receive support to attain graduate studies in public health after completing their undergraduate education. Hinds hopes to encourage more of the students to take on public health since they would have a better understanding of their particular community’s needs.

Perhaps, he says, they can even run interventions within their school.

“I would have wanted something like this when I was younger,” he says. “I wanted something like this before my master’s. The fact that they’re being exposed to this in high school should help shift how they approach problems and real life situations where you don’t have all the answers.”

The program at the Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute is co-led by Hinds, Annette Paul, Dalla Lana’s director of advancement, and Dean Adalsteinn Brown in partnership with the Ahead of the Game Youth Mentoring Program and The Neighbourhood Organization in Thorncliffe Park.

The program will expand next year to other Toronto-area schools.

TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at ��˾��ֱ��

geoff.vendeville — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:27:53 +0000

TDSB students tackle problems in transit, zoos and more at ��˾��ֱ��

geoff.vendeville Fri, 01/20/2017 - 15:27

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A student tries on a pair of virtual reality goggles during the event (photo by Yana Kaz)

Geoffrey Vendeville

Author legacy

Geoffrey Vendeville

Topic

City & Culture

Roger Martin

Rotman School of Management

Subheadline

Rotman School of Management hosted event for Toronto elementary and high school students

Elementary and high school students, their teachers and parents came to ��˾��ֱ��’s Rotman School of Management this week to unveil projects they completed using an innovative problem-solving technique coined by business strategist and former Rotman dean Roger Martin.

Called integrative thinking, the method is meant to help anyone wade through enigmatic choices by weighing different ideas and coming to a “creative resolution of the tension” between them.

It may sound complex, but teachers at the Toronto District School Board had apparently no trouble explaining it to students ranging in grades from 2 to 12. Students used integrative-thinking to solve an array of problems.

Jade Mantadee and her classmates in the combined Grade 4 and 5 class at Fairbanks Public School tackled the question of whether to keep animals in captivity.

“We were trying to see if we could make both sides into one solution so we came up with virtual reality,” she said.

Becky Zaimi, a teacher at Fairbanks Public School, uses a virtual reality headset, which was part of her students' class project, looking at whether there should be zoos (photo by Yana Kaz)

Their teacher, Becky Zaimi, a graduate of ��˾��ֱ��'s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said her class came up with the idea themselves after they read a collection of persuasive texts by fourth graders entitled Should There Be Zoos? and a book about cyberspace.

They used a pro/pro chart, an integrative thinking tool, as opposed to the traditional pro/con chart to arrive at a solution.

Another group, the Grade 1 class at Park Lawn Junior Middle School, analyzed problems of racism and sexism raised in the children’s book, Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman.

Students at Park Lawn Junior Middle School explain their project to grown-ups. Their project was based on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Yana Kaz)

“It’s about a girl, Grace, who wants to be Peter Pan in the school play. But the other students say Peter Pan is a boy. He’s white, and you’re black,” said a volunteer and recent OISE grad at the school, Kathryn Bryce.

After a discussion about racial and gender stereotypes, the class – including Deandray Spencer – concluded that Grace should play Peter Pan anyway.

“It’s awesome because they’re so young, and yet they were still able to think in a good and productive way,” Bryce said.

Deandray Spencer presents a class project on the children's book “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman (photo by Geoffrey Vendeville)

Mitzie Hunter, Ontario’s minister of education and a Rotman graduate, came to the event to tell students that integrative thinking has applications outside the classroom.

Speaking about the pro/pro chart, she said it was useful because it helps her balance the interests of many different stakeholders: teachers, principals, boards and labour unions.

“When I use pro/pro, I try to find elements of common ground where we can work towards an outcome, taking the best ideas from both sides,” she said.

Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter spoke to students at Rotman about using integrative thinking in her work (photo by Yana Kaz)

For Grade 12 students at John Polanyi Collegiate, integrative thinking helped them take on a challenge posed by Metrolinx.

The students were asked to find the best way to build “employee resource groups” within the transportation agency's workforce as part of a new diversity and inclusive intiative.

One group suggested organizing a "discovery fair," where employees could set up booths, showcasing their hobbies so they can find co-workers with similar interests.

The Grade 12 business leadership class at John Polanyi Collegiate brainstormed ideas for building "employee resource groups" at Metrolinx (photo by Yana Kaz)

A first-year Rotman commerce student and former intern at Metrolinx, Kate Azizova, helped arrange the partnership.

She had once learned about integrative thinking in Rotman's business leadership class. Martin is now the academic director of Rotman's Martin Prosperity Institute.

“This class is very different from any other you take in high school,” she told ��˾��ֱ�� News. “There are no tests. Everything is based on whether you choose to speak up.

“The biggest thing I learned was to take initiative.”

Varsity Blues buddy up with elementary students across Toronto

sgupta — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 16:20:57 +0000

Varsity Blues buddy up with elementary students across Toronto sgupta Tue, 11/10/2015 - 11:20

Cutline

(all photos by Martin Bazyl, courtesy Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education)

Jill Clark

Author legacy

Jill Clark

Topic

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Community

Cities

Children

Subheadline

Student-athletes devise community outreach program for city schools

Student-athletes from the University of Toronto are using everything from basketball to blindfolds to help elementary school kids across the City of Toronto develop character and leadership.

“I liked the Lego building because I learned about cooperation and exact communication,” said one child from St. Paul's Catholic School in Regent Park.

Created and delivered by the athletes of ��˾��ֱ��’s Varsity Blues, the community outreach program is called Blues Buddy Up. Designed to target personal and interpersonal skill development in students ranging from grades 4-6, the program runs under the BLUES philosophy: Believe, Learn, Understand, Excel & Succeed.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for us to give back to the community,” said football player Kevin Collins of ��˾��ֱ��’s St. Michael’s College. “It’s a chance to talk to them about some valuable life lessons, do some physical activity with them and really engage these young students with the Blues philosophy.”

“We are so excited to start implementing Blues Buddy Up this fall,” said Beth Ali, director of intercollegiate & high performance sport and acting assistant dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education.

“Our dedicated group of student-athletes have so much to offer. To see them give back to the community this way is the definition of leadership. I really believe this program will not only help the school children in their everyday lives, but will also enrich the experience of our Varsity Blues student-athletes during their university careers.”

St. Paul's Catholic School was the stop for their first, in-class session on Nov. 4. The visit featured six of the 45 Blues athletes who have committed to this project. And the young audience embraced their new mentors and the messages with open arms.

“I liked the game when I was blindfolded and walked around the pucks,” said one St. Paul's student. “My guide gave me instructions to follow and I had to trust that person.”

“Overall our students all had the same feedback,” said Micheline Dutil-Hoffman, principal at St. Paul’s. “They thought it was a lot of fun and they learned important lessons at the same time. I would say it was a job well done!”

For fastpitch player Alika Kingsbury, who studies medical radiation, the students’ excitement was infectious.

“The students are so excited to see us that you can’t help but feed off that energy,” Kingsbury said. “Being a part of this is special and it’s a great chance for us as student-athletes to give back in a small way, and really be positive role models.”

“It was educational,” said one St. Paul's student. “They taught us how to support our teammates in basketball and understand what they are saying.”

Blues Buddy Up has already booked two other school visits for next week. Interested in having the one-hour program visit your school? Register here.

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