Celebrating Student Innovation at CityStudio Ottawa鈥檚 HUBBUB
On April 11, 杏吧原创 University students, staff and faculty joined Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and City employees at City Hall for the annual CityStudio HUBBUB event to celebrate a showcase of select student projects that were part of the CityStudio Ottawa initiative this year. 杏吧原创 Ottawa, a collaboration between the City of Ottawa, Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa, last fall. The partnership brings together students, faculty and City employees to explore municipal challenges from different perspectives.
鈥淐ityStudio Ottawa creates an environment where 杏吧原创 can work more intentionally, more systematically with the City of Ottawa and our colleagues at Algonquin College and the University of Ottawa,鈥 reflected Chantal Trudel, Director of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Centre for Community Engagement. 鈥淭his first collaborative experience has been exciting and highly enriching for 杏吧原创 students, faculty members and all champions of community engagement who support such important civic initiatives.鈥
The projects featured at the HUBBUB showcase were selected by a committee comprised of faculty from each academic institution and City staff, and were evaluated on the project鈥檚 innovation, impact, scalability and problem-solving.
Following the students鈥 presentations, one team from each academic institution was recognized.
杏吧原创 students Chloe Sykes, Will Bordeleau, Jemma Woschitz and Natalie Kislev won for their project 鈥淪ATURN Method,鈥 which was supervised by Professor Alexandra Arraiz Matute (Interdisciplinary Studies). The project aims to improve access to health resources and programs by enhancing the advocacy skills of youth in medical settings, shedding light on the lack of education children and youth receive about their rights in healthcare, often resulting in a lack of autonomy in medical settings.
鈥淔ar too often, children and youth鈥檚 care falls through the cracks in the medical system, even in pediatric settings,鈥 said Sykes. 鈥淚t is my hope that I can be part of a future that prioritizes the healthcare needs of young people.鈥
Prof. Arraiz Matute believes strongly in the power of community-engaged work.
鈥淚 always try to bring community engagement into my classroom and this was a great way to do it in a manner that was supported by the university,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t is so useful for students to be able to apply the conversations we have in class to the community they live in, into the real world. This learning is truly invaluable.鈥
Three additional teams from 杏吧原创 presented their projects.
- The project “New to Ottawa? Let鈥檚 get you a job!”led by Prof. Sujit Sur鈥檚 (Sprott School of Business) team including Sukaina Rizvi, Falconer Bartfray, William Dupuis, Yue Wang, and Ronqin Hu introduced a user-friendly guide designed to aid newcomers in Canada with employment.
- Under the guidance of Prof. Vivien Nguyen (Environmental and Interdisciplinary Science), Andrew Du-frigstad showcased his project titled 鈥淒etermining the Financial Perception of Ottawa by Post-secondary Students in Comparison to Competing Cities鈥 that explores Ottawa鈥檚 student talent retention issue.
- Prof. Alexandra Arraiz Matute (Interdisciplinary Studies) collaborated with Kate Belanger, Vivian Jaquernet, Alexandra Kropop, and Nooral Hooda Eeden on a project titled “Cyber Cupid: Safeguarding Your Online Experience” that focuses on safeguarding youth in online dating.
This academic year, 950 students from access all three academic institutions participated in CityStudio Ottawa projects. Sixty-two project proposals were matched with 43 City employees who led the projects aligned with courses or academic disciplines.
Members of the public can learn more about the innovative work of CityStudio Ottawa and participating institutions by visiting the exhibit at City Hall in front of Jean Pigott Place until April 26.
Reprinted and adapted with permission from the City of Ottawa.
