Durham College (DC) has received approval from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to launch a new Tower Crane Operator (339B) apprenticeship program. With the new program, DC will become the only college in Ontario to offer the Tower Crane Operator apprenticeship.

Developed by the college in direct response to requests by industry leaders, the program will help stem the shortage of qualified tower crane operators that is challenging builders in Ontario and across Canada.

“As an industry advocate, the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON) is proud to support Durham College’s new Tower Crane Operator program. The skilled trades – including crane operators – need the kind of grassroots support that this will provide. Educating eager young minds to help the residential construction industry ultimately will add supply to a region that faces a housing crisis. We need the skilled, knowledgeable tower crane operators that the Durham program will produce,” says RESCON president Richard Lyall.

The Tower Crane Operator apprenticeship program is expected to launch in January 2021 and will be offered at the college’s Whitby campus where two tower cranes will be mounted permanently, one a luffer and the other a hammerhead, to support the program. DC currently offers Mobile Crane Operator (339A and C) training to approximately 56 apprentices each year. The college also offers a one-year post-secondary certificate, Crane Operation, Rigging and Construction Techniques, to approximately 40 students per year, many of whom go on to become registered apprentices.

“The addition of the Tower Crane Operator apprenticeship program to DC’s School of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeship & Renewable Technology is a natural extension of both our current crane operation programs and the college’s ongoing commitment to supporting and growing the skilled trades and the industries that depend on them,” says DC president Don Lovisa.

Buildforce Canada projects a growth in demand for tower crane operators of 7 per cent between 2013 and 2020. This increase coupled with the number of operators retiring combined with an average of 32 operators currently completing their apprenticeship each year indicates the industry will face a shortage of approximately 548 operators by 2020.

“In the more than 15 years that DC has been offering crane operation training, our programs, faculty and, most importantly, our students and graduates have developed strong relationships and outstanding reputations with industry,” says professor and program coordinator Kevin Keays, who has been an in-demand operator himself for 35 years. “With this program, DC will be able to produce qualified operators to help keep the region and province building and growing.”

On April 6, Durham College (DC) welcomed 12 teams of Grade 11 and 12 students to the W. Galen Weston Centre for Food (CFF) and challenged them to put their culinary skills and original recipes to the test at the fifth annual Epic Mac ‘n’ Cheese Competition.

Organized by CFF chef Peter Lee and Gillian Pope, a student in DC’s Culinary Management program, the event provided a unique hands-on learning opportunity for food-focused high school students, giving them a chance to compete for a bursary towards studying in a culinary program at DC.

After watching the live-cooking action, guests were invited to sample the entrants’ recipes and vote for their favourite. First-place honours went to Lucas Fong and Kyra Maldonado of Monsignor Paul Dwyer Catholic High School in Oshawa for their apple and duck confit mac and cheese recipe. Hazel Lambinicio and Carlos Ayao from the same school whipped up a “Hog Wild” recipe with pulled pork, bacon, red pepper and cheddar and tied for second place with Ethan Taylor and Jessica Pearcy from St Peter’s Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough whose “Taste of Aphrodite” mac and cheese wooed the judges with its roasted pepper, tomato, arugula, chorizo, feta and duck kielbasa toppings.

Thanks to all of the event’s sponsors – Canada Cutlery Inc., Selbie Produce, Sysco and The Butcher Shoppe – and congratulations to all of the competitors and winners!

On April 5, TeachingCity partners the City of Oshawa, Durham College (DC), Ontario Tech University and Trent University Greater Toronto Area gathered together for the spring City Idea Lab student showcase. The City Idea Lab is a collaborative, course-based initiative that offers experiential learning opportunities via credit courses at the TeachingCity Hub in downtown Oshawa.

Highlighting the results of City Idea Lab courses across the three post-secondary institutions, the showcase focused on a variety of City-focused challenge questions, with students representing a variety of fields of study, including child and youth studies, information technology, media, art and design, and social science and humanities.

Second-year DC students from the Fine Arts – Advanced program translated stories shared by Child, Youth and Family Program patients at Lakeridge Health Oshawa into art, whereas Journalism-Mass Media students explored how the City could include intangible cultural assets on their Cultural Map, leading to a project aimed at elevating Oshawa’s cultural reputation locally, provincially and nationally.

Other questions addressed through the program included how the City might engage youth in priority neighbourhoods, engage residents to help build community pride, design a Wi-Fi network in the downtown core, and more. Over 200 students from seven courses across the three post-secondary institutions, worked together to develop posters to display their innovative solutions.  

Posters presented at the student showcase will be on display at Oshawa City Hall from Monday, April 8 to Friday, April 12.

City Idea Lab has been generously supported by RBC Futures Launch.

On March 28, Durham College (DC) participated in the Future of Transportation and Mobility Series: Self-Driving Cars & Increased Safety alongside Ontario Tech University, Spark Centre, and the Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility (CITM), a division of Innovation Factory in Hamilton, Ont.

Supported by the Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN), the one-day event allowed attendees to network with industry, entrepreneurs, government and academia while hearing from speakers who focused on the safety and mobility freedom and the importance of considering accessibility and inclusion in the realization of autonomous vehicles.

DC was pleased to have Ali Hirji, project manager of DC’s Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions (the AI Hub) sit on the Smart City Panel to explore how digital infrastructure can impact public safety. During the panel, Ali and other industry panelists discussed the idea that smart cities should include rural communities and spoke about the need to contextualize digital infrastructure by thinking about compliance, security and other related issues.

Participants also had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the 2019 Hyundai Nexo, which was on site thanks to the strong relationship between Hyundai and DC’s Corporate Training Services, who manage, design and deliver multiple product training tours per year for Hyundai. The Nexo is one of only a handful of hydrogen-fueled autonomous vehicles available on the market and is equipped with an extensive sensor array consisting of both mass-produced and specific autonomous sensing devices, including front and rear LIDAR.

As a partner in AVIN’s Regional Technology Development Site (RTDS) located in the Durham Region, DC will continue to contribute to future events and projects by helping to support and enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to develop, prototype, test and validate new technologies, access specialized equipment, and obtain technical and business advice in developing transformative automotive technologies. DC’s current role focuses on the human machine interface (HMI) and user experience by providing technology companies access to faculty expertise, student talent and state-of-the-art research facilities, thus helping them develop autonomous vehicle capabilities in a safe and controlled environment.

On March 11, Durham College’s (DC) entrepreneurial training partnership program FastStartDC, held a presentation with award-winning entrepreneur, management consultant and former diplomat Omar Allam, Founder and CEO of Allam Advisory Group (AAG). The theme of his presentation was ‘Turning Your Vision into Reality.’

The DC community had the opportunity to tap into Omar’s vast experience and hard-won insight he gained from 20 years of leading and guiding international business and consulting engagements across the public, private and social sectors. His worldwide leadership extends to the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Students and staff had the opportunity to listen an engage with him in a question and answer-style fireside chat as he touched on many topics including:

• Knowing when to take a risk and leap into entrepreneurship.
• Global citizenship and international business.
• The importance of fostering a great corporate culture.
• The importance of a shared culture, and the building of trusting relationships in business, both with clients and partners.
• Work-life balance is different for everyone but family comes first.
• What AAG is all about and how he created the company.

After his presentation Allam kindly volunteered his time, meeting one-on-one with a number of FastStartDC’s students offering them strategic mentorship advice and guidance for their businesses. He has supported many young entrepreneurs over the years and one of the simple but vital messages he left the future entrepreneurs with, was the importance of being surrounded by a good team of people with the same goals.

On March 12, the lobby of the Campus Ice Centre was filled with the smell of fresh popcorn and hot chocolate, for the enjoyment of all who came out in support of United Way Durham Region at the family skate with Durham College (DC) president Don Lovisa. He was joined by DC employees, students and members of the community.

The college has a longstanding history of supporting United Way through its annual campus campaign. This important organization provides funds to the network of health and social services agencies serving our community’s most vulnerable individuals and families.

The event saw Lovisa lace up his skates for the first time in 16 years as he led the way for a fun evening on the ice. While there were some first-time wobbly moves and impressive expert spins, the ultimate winner was United Way.