Following a call to the community for recommendations, the STEAM Education Centre has selected its first 4 projects for the recently launched STEAM Community Studio.
As myFM first informed you back in June of 2020, the STEAM Education Centre received a $225,000 donation from the Estate of Donna Vera Evans Bushell to fund the start-up period for the program that will see students, stakeholders, and organizations explore issues at play in our community and propose potential solutions and develop recommendations.
The first round of projects include…
-Reducing waste: Finding reuse for items in a cluttered world – Using design thinking, students will be asked to prototype a physical process to enable reuse at the City of St. Thomas Community Recycling Centre
-Creating Welcoming Sensory Spaces – this proposal will see students prototyping a modular sensory wall to assist the Wellkin Child & Youth Mental Wellness Centre in their programming
-Creating a Virtual Marketplace – The Downtown Development Board proposal recognizes that this global pandemic has had a massive effect on our small and medium- sized enterprises and if you are accustomed to brick and mortar sales this has become a race to capture an online presence in order to succeed. Students will be provided with an experiential learning opportunity to prototype solutions to assist local business owners to utilize technology to gain more of this market share
-Audio/Video Production Studio for Youth Skillbuilding – This project, submitted by Ignite Youth Centre will create an opportunity for youth skill building through the planning of the establishment of an audio-video production studio and then utilizing the space for continual learning.
Community and Communications Coordinator Denise Love says they received about 16 recommendations from the community.
So far students from both Western University and Arthur Voaden Secondary School will work with STEAM on the projects for class credits, with other local students using the Community Studio as a resume builder through volunteering.
Love says that they have planned for the times and have set the STEAM Community Studio up to run virtually.
Love adds that they are still looking for recommendations for their upcoming projects, especially ones that benefit both St. Thomas and Elgin County.
For more information or to submit a proposal, you can click here.
