100 High School Students Innovate the Future of Waste Management on Campus
Posted on Wednesday, March 9th, 2016
Algonquin College’s Academic Partnerships team welcomed 100 high school students to the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) training program on March 9.
A new certification component introduced recently, ICE training offers Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) students an opportunity to solve problems facing a real-world company, like Algonquin College, through the practical application of its three core mindsets.
“We want the students to experience a day in the life of an Algonquin College student, and we want the students to solve an authentic challenge facing the college’s Sustainability Committee,” said Christine Adam-Carr, Coordinator of Student Success for the Ottawa Catholic School Board.
Students were presented with the challenge of helping redesign and improve the waste and recycling processes at the college with the aim of improving student and staff participation, while considering the social, economic and environmental perspectives.
Teams of three to five students worked together on formulating a project idea then developing a prototype to present to a team of judges consisting of ten college employees. Students were scored on the innovativeness and creativity of their pitch; the consideration taken for the social, economic and environmental aspects; the practicality of their ideas; as well as their ability to field the judges’ questions.
A number of the prototypes focused on improving the visibility of the waste disposal bins on campus as well as the differentiation between the recycling categories – through colour schemes, signage, or even pop-up interactive 3D objects. Some of the groups wanted to increase environmental awareness on campus through social media outreach. Another group proposed incentivizing responsible recycling practices through a system that would see teachers reward students with gift cards.
“Almost every single one of the 19 groups of grade 11 and 12 students asked a question that almost all Algonquin College students have never asked”
– Patrick Newell, Students Association
A number of the teams tackled a challenge the judges admitted to giving no prior thought to – the lack of composting options on campus. A group of students from Mother Teresa High School surveyed dozens of college students and found 70% of those surveyed would compost – information they presented to judges in a slideshow put together on an iPad. The group proposed using the compost to fertilize the college’s community gardens.
“Why don’t we compost? That’s a question I’ve never thought about,” said judge Patrick Newell, Clubs and Communities Coordinator at the Students Association. “Yet almost every single one of the 19 groups of grade 11 and 12 students asked a question that almost all Algonquin College students have never asked. It’s a question I haven’t asked in eight years of working at the college.”
Among the educators on-hand supervising the event, Mother Teresa High School teacher, Sue Ragaisis, remarked on how the SHSM program and ICE training unites students from the academic, applied and workplace streams under one umbrella – a merging of pathways that brings together a diversity of skills into each group.
“They’re in the same class, all working together, and all have value to bring to the same project,” said Ragaisis.
“My favourite part about this is that the students want to participate because they feel like they’re not doing a project just for the sake of doing it. It has a real chance for impact. They might actually make something happen. They see a real life problem, and they don’t know why it hasn’t already been solved.”
About Academic Partnerships:
Pathway Building since 2006. Academic Partnerships works with a comprehensive network of Pathway Builders (community, educational and government stakeholders) to create and deliver on a variety of experiential opportunities to be a college student through hands-on, curriculum-driven experiences for Pathway Explorers (students in grade 7 – 12). With a commitment to the dream development and pathway finding for students prior to starting full-time studies the team has programming at Algonquin College’s three Ontario Campuses: Ottawa, Pembroke, and Perth. For more information visit: algonquincollege.com/ap
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